All the Girls Love Alice
by MirellaArabesque
Summary: Alice's move from Kansas City to Tulsa isn't going as smoothly as she'd hoped. Those stupid boys across the street are bugging her, and she misses her girlfriend. Explanation inside. Please give it a chance! Teen for mentions of girl lovin'. NOT a songfic
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own _The Outsiders_ or any of the gang, but I do own Alice and Kenji (figuratively... I don't have an Akita =[ But I want one!) Oh. And I don't own the song "All the Girls Love Alice", by Elton John.

A/N: SO. I kept hearing about these fics where a girl comes along and becomes one of the gang, then falls in love with a greaser. And I thought, hmmmm... what if a lesbian came along? And then this lesbian wouldn't get out of my head and I just had to write it. It won't follow the song; I just got the name from that and decided I'd use it. She maybe a bit stereotypical, but please don't take offense. I'm bisexual and I have absolutely NOTHING against ANY kind of love. I'm not trying to reinforce stereotypes here, I just... that's how I wanted to write her.

Not sure if I'll continue this yet. Depends on if anyone likes it. And, oh, the wolf thing. I don't know. I thought it was funny, but it may just be me. So please, review and tell me what you think and if you'd like to see more of this story.

* * *

Four boys sat on a porch, smoking cigarettes and watching the movers across the street. They weren't from a nice neighborhood, and they knew that anyone moving there hadn't chosen the place for the location or the neighbors- they chose it because they had no place better.

The back of the moving truck was open, and it was about halfway empty. Now the two big, burly movers had taken a couch and lifted it up, one at each end. As they unloaded it from the truck and started carrying it to the front door, the darker-haired mover's hands suddenly slipped, and he jumped back quickly as the couch hit the ground. The other wasn't so lucky- startled by the extra weight, he dropped it on his toes and began screaming and shouting cuss words at his partner. The boys watching from across the street howled with laughter.

"Professional movers, huh?" Steve choked out. "Real smooth!"

Two-Bit took it up a notch. He stood up and walked to the middle of the Curtis yard, and then began jumping up and down and mimicking everything the pained mover said. Eventually the man started swearing at Two-Bit instead of his co-worker. The boy just yelled louder, more colourful words back.

By the time it had finally calmed down, the movers were carrying the couch (more carefully this time) and the boys were lying on the porch, breathless from laughing.

Ponyboy, the youngest at fifteen, sat up on his elbows and propped his chin in his hands. "Soda, when do you think they're gonna get here?"

His older brother shrugged. "I dunno, little buddy. You'd think they'd wanna be here now, making sure those movers don't bust up all their stuff." This brought a new wave of mirth from all of the greasers.

"What are you all giggling about out here?" Darry stuck his head out the door. The boys just shook their heads, unable to answer.

The next day, a plain, boring brown station wagon pulled into the driveway of the house across the street. Ponyboy and Soda watched from the window as a dark-haired woman slid out of the front seat. Then they grinned, seeing a teenage boy climb out of the back with a big grey dog. The boy had longish brown hair almost to his shoulders that curled in slightly. The Curtis brothers couldn't see his face, but they were more interested in the dog anyway, at least for the moment.

Pony gasped. "Soda, is that a wolf?"

"Um," said Soda, a little bit unsure himself, "I don't _think_ so… Darry!"

Darry came up to the window behind them. "Oh, the neighbors are here," he remarked.

"Mmm-hmmm," replied Soda distractedly. "What kind of dog is that?"

The oldest boy frowned. "I have no idea. Looks like a wolf." The younger boys grinned at each other.

Suddenly a screen door slammed. "Hey, guys, did you notice"—Two-Bit stopped mid-sentence when he saw the brothers gathered by the window. "Oh. Guess you did."

"How old do you think?" wondered Sodapop out loud. By now the boy had gone inside with his dog, and the lights in the house were on.

"Fifteen? Fourteen?" guessed Two-Bit. "He looked kinda shrimpy."

"You see his face?" asked Darry curiously.

Two-Bit shook his head. "Saw his dog, though. That thing was huge; it looked like a wolf!" The others rolled their eyes and then jumped and screamed when Steve's head popped up in front of their window. Soda's friend was yelling and waving his arms, and they hadn't seen him sneak up.

Steve was laughing as he ran around to the door and entered the house. "Hey, your neighbor's here."

"We know," sighed the others, hearts still pounding from his sudden attack.

"He's puny," added Steve. "It's a wonder that dog don't knock him over. You know what that dog looks like?"

"_A wolf!_" chorused the four other boys, laughing as Steve wondered what was so funny.

The new neighbor, holding the dog on a leash, stepped outside. Immediately, five greasers ran out of the house across the street.

Ponyboy got there first with Soda right behind him. "Hey," the younger boy called as he stopped and his brother almost crashed into him.

The neighbor looked up from where he had been kicking the ground with a Converse-clad foot. Soda gasped. His face was too soft… but it couldn't be…

"Hey," the new kid replied. His voice was awfully high for a teenage boy's, and he looked a little younger from the front. Steve's eyes widened. Darry couldn't believe it. Two-Bit started laughing. _Jesus Christ,_ he thought. _That's not…_

Pony, however, was still oblivious. "That's a pretty big dog you've got there," he rambled on. "Did you know it looks like a wolf? What kind is it?"

The neighbor glanced over Pony's shoulder at the nearly hysterical Two-Bit. He rolled his eyes. "An Akita," he said wearily, turning back to Ponyboy. "His name is Kenji," he added in that same too-high voice.

"I'm Ponyboy." He pointed out his friends in order. "This is my brother, Sodapop"—Soda was trying to be nice, but his shock showed in his face- "and my other brother, Darry"—Darry was still staring with wide eyes—"and our friends, Two-Bit and Steve." The last two were leaning on each other, choking with laughter. "_Shut up!_" Pony finally yelled at them. For a minute they were silent.

_Yep_, thought the new kid. _It sure is gonna be loads better here, mom. I'm gonna fit in with these jerks just fine_.

Then, with cold eyes, he turned back to Pony. "Nice to meet you," he said sarcastically. "I'm Alice."

Ponyboy gasped as the others burst out laughing again, even Soda and Darry. So _that_ was why…. It explained the soft feminine features, the big brown eyes, the voice. _Holy shit_, thought Pony. _He's a she!_

"Um," he stammered. "Well, nice to meet you too, Alice. We, uh, we gotta go now."

And five greasers took off running into the shelter of the Curtis home, where they would laugh for a good half hour.

Alice sat down on the front steps. _Just great,_ she thought. Kenji came up and nudged her as she sighed heavily. _Don't listen to them, Alice_, he seemed to say. _They're just jerks._

She knew they were jerks, but that didn't help. "I wish I was home," she muttered, stroking her dog's fur and thinking of Missouri. Where people knew who she was and, for the most part, didn't care. Sure, there had been a few guys—and a few girls—that had a problem with it. But they had been in the minority. Once she had gotten it through everyone's thick skulls that she was the way she was no matter how much they disliked it, they had given her a chance. And they had liked her. Straight girls were suddenly 'curious', or they had never kissed a boy and were worried about Friday night's date… so they came to her. And then she had moved. And ended up in Tulsa with a bunch of boys who thought she was a dude and Kenji was a wolf.

"This is gonna suck," she whispered to her dog. He whined.

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Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: To prevent confusion, here is my take on when the events in _The Outsiders_ happen and the current ages of all the characters:

January 1966: Curtis parents are killed. Ponyboy mentioned that they died eight months before the story takes place.  
May 1966: Johnny is beat up. It was a "warmish spring day" about four months ago. School is in while _The Outsiders_ takes place, so it has to be May (or April, but I like May.)  
September 1966: _The Outsiders_ takes place.  
December 1966: Ponyboy writes his semester theme. It was spring in the movie, but in the book it didn't say, and I just decided to make it the first semester so my greasers don't get too old on me. =] Alice arrives while school is out for the holidays.

Ages: Soda is now seventeen, Ponyboy is still fourteen, Darry is still twenty, Steve is still seventeen, and Two-Bit is almost nineteen. Alice is sixteen, two years older than Pony, but only one grade up because he skipped a grade. Cherry (who will come into the story next chapter, if all goes as planned), Steve, and Two-Bit are juniors, Alice is a sophomore, and Pony is a freshman.

I'm continuing this for now; please keep reviewing and let me know what you think! I now present Chapter 2 of "All the Girls Love Alice."

* * *

Unbelievable. Alice groaned in frustration and collapsed onto her bed, clutching the toe she had just stubbed in the doorway. As if dealing with those asshole boys, living with her stupid mother, and facing school the next day weren't enough.

"Anything else?" she yelled at her ceiling, talking to a God that may or may not have existed. She wasn't sure. "Wanna throw any more crap at me? How about just kill me?" With an exasperated sign, she flopped onto her stomach. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, but she ignored it.

"Alice, honey?" her mother's voice called. Alice pulled a pillow over her head. "Are you okay?" her mother continued. "I heard yelling…"

"I'm fine," mumbled Alice.

"Well, okay…" she trailed off. "I'm making dinner; what do you want?"

"Not hungry."

Mrs. Morton sighed. She did love her daughter, but it was getting harder and harder to deal with her. At first it had seemed to be just teenage angst—the typical stuff everyone is supposed to go through. But Alice wasn't like other girls. She had gone right against her mother's firm prohibition of wearing boys' clothes. Half of the time she dressed like any normal girl, but on random days, three or four a week, she'd come to breakfast in jeans and a t-shirt. Yelling matches would ensue, but ultimately, Alice would win. Her teachers complained that she should dress appropriately for a young lady, and she adamantly refused.

And the girls… Mrs. Morton wasn't really sure. They hadn't had much money then (and they didn't have much now) and most of the kids in their neighborhood were only friends with those in their own class. But some days, nice-looking girls, from good homes, would come over after school. When Mrs. Morton called them down for dinner, they always ran down the stairs blushing and frequently glanced at Alice across the table, who would smile back knowingly.

Instead of confronting her daughter about it, Mrs. Morton ignored it. She didn't even want to consider thinking about what Alice did up there with those girls…

But Alice was thinking about it. She was thinking about how much she missed Kansas City and the friends she had had there. Where she could dress how she wanted without stupid boys with weird names making fun of her. Where all those girls would come up to her room and sit awkwardly on the edge of her bed, but by the time they went home were flushed and anything but unconfident.

She had always been a tomboy, wearing jeans as soon as she was old enough to dress herself. At recess she had played basketball or kickball with the boys. But it had all really started in the seventh grade, when she was thirteen years old. That was when she realized she was gay. All her life she had gone to movies and watched the female leads more than the men. After going to the drive-in with a group of friends once, the girls were all raving about the main male character. Alice had shifted a little in her chair and chewed thoughtfully on her pizza when she realized that she couldn't even remember what he had looked like. Since then she had gone with her instincts and done whatever felt right- and what "felt right" was always girls.

Towards the end of eighth grade, a girl in her school had started a rumor that Alice was gay. It wasn't the first; however, instead of simply ignoring it like she had the others, Alice just laughed and said, "Took you long enough." The next two months had been rough- boys made rude gestures at her and called her dirty names. Girls skirted around her, giggling and whispering. The teachers looked at her disapprovingly, some of them muttering about "hippie experimentation" or something similar. They thought she was a phoney, she realized after a while. Most of her friends stayed loyal, though, which helped a lot, and she made it through the eighth grade without killing anyone.

Then came high school. Everyone was in shock when Alice showed up on the first day in a dress, but they calmed down again when she wore jeans the next day. She usually wore pants about half of the time and dresses the rest that year.

In October, a girl who she was acquainted but not really friends with approached her with a request. Her boyfriend was ready to take things further, she explained. They had kissed chastely, but never with tongue, and she had no idea what she was doing. "So," the girl had finished, embarrassed, "I was wondering if you would teach me how." It was common knowledge by then that Alice had been with a few girls, mostly older. No one really knew how far these relationships had gone, but a lot of people joked about her knowing quite a lot about lesbian sex (Alice was, in fact, a virgin, but she had been to second base many times). She was surprised at first, but eventually decided to help the girl out. A few weeks later a sophomore named Sammy declared that she wanted to "experiment," so Alice invited her to her house. And that was how girls started coming over after school.

They would kiss, they would touch, and Alice would teach them how to use their tongues and how to relax. She only went past second base with one of them, a girl from another school whom she secretly had a crush on. But that was over the clothes, of course- "I'm not a lesbian!" the girl had stated firmly. The ones who came for kissing advice generally wouldn't let Alice touch them except to wrap her arms around them, but the ones who wanted to experiment were all okay with it when her hands wandered. They _liked_ it, they had all said, surprised, and she had grinned. But mostly, she kept it waist-up.

Then, in the last month of Alice's ninth-grade year, another sophomore came into the picture. Her name was Laura, and she had blond hair and light green eyes. She would come over at least once a week, sometimes more. Once, as she straddled Alice on the bed, hands under her shirt, kissing fiercely, she had moaned, "I love you." Alice sat up fast enough to make Laura fall backwards.

"Really?" she had panted, tugging on her twisted-up shirt to even it out. Making out had been detached from love or any sort of attraction for Alice for so long that she had forgotten that someone _could_ love her. She hadn't really thought about it that way for a long time.

Laura had nodded shyly, peeking up from under long blonde lashes. "That's why I come over here so much," she'd explained nervously. "So I could—"

Then she had been interrupted by Alice's mouth covering hers again, and that was the beginning of their relationship. They had gone steady right up until the day Alice moved. Laura, knowing about the little "charity," as Alice called it—after all, she was helping people without charging them a dime, she laughed—had been patient and unselfish, letting Alice have other girls over. Alice didn't feel other girls up anymore, though. She kissed them with a bit more restraint then she once had, letting them learn the ropes but not feel any passion behind it. Gentle touches and whispered I-love-you's were reserved for Laura. Once after they had been dating for almost five months—Laura was a junior by then and Alice was a sophomore—Alice stayed the night at Laura's house and lost her virginity to her girlfriend. Two months later they had said goodbye with a promise that they still loved each other, but each had agreed to give the other the freedom to see other people.

The Mortons had left Kansas City on December 28th and had spent New Year's Eve moving furniture around and unpacking boxes. It was January 4th, exactly a week later. A week of trying to stay inside so she wouldn't have to see the neighbors. A week of speaking only to her mother and Kenji. A week since she had seen Laura.

Alice would almost rather live in a time warp, repeating this unbearable week for eternity, than start school tomorrow. She remembered very distinctly what it had been like when her schoolmates first found out. It seemed unfair to have to go through it twice.

She thought over the depressing predicament until ten, and then turned out the lights and patted the bed next to her until Kenji jumped up. Then she crawled under the covers, put the pillow back over her head, and tried to sleep.

It was a very, very long night.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry, I know this took forever!

Disclaimer: I don't own.  


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The door to Mr. Wilson's first period calculus class opened five minutes after the bell rang. Cherry Valance looked up from where she was doodling on her notebook to see a brown-haired girl walk in. Her hair was shoulder length and swept back with a green headband. She wore a matching green sweater over a white shirt and a green plaid skirt with white knee-highs and brown shoes. Frowning, Mr. Wilson paused in his explanation (that no one was listening to) and turned to look at her. The girl looked startled at this, but handed him the paper she was carrying.

"I think this is where I'm supposed to be?" she phrased it as a question.

His eyes travelled back and forth on the page before he looked at her again. "Alice Morton?" She nodded. "You're in the tenth grade?" Again, she nodded. Cherry raised her eyebrows. The class was entirely made up of eleventh-graders.

"This is a calculus class," Mr. Wilson continued.

"Yes, sir. I was in calculus for the first semester of this year at my old school," Alice replied.

With a grunt of consent, the teacher crossed the room to a shelf and handed her a textbook. Then he went right back to his explanation, staring down at his own book without telling Alice where to go.

The brown-haired girl looked like a deer in the headlights, so Cherry waved her over and gestured to the seat next to her. "Thanks," the girl mouthed, and Cherry nodded.

Bending over her desk, Alice scrawled a note and handed it to the redhead sitting beside her.

_**Is he always this grumpy?**_ Cherry read. She picked up her pencil.

_Always. He hates it when people interrupt him. So we sit down, shut up, and make no effort to understand anything he says._

Alice grinned at that. _**I'm from Kansas City**__,_ she wrote. _**I'm Alice.**_

_Cherry Valance_, the redhead penned in neat cursive. _Where do you live now?_ When she saw the street name she got in reply, she stared open-mouthed at the nice-looking girl next to her. After a few seconds, Alice hissed, "What?"

_Nothing. That's on the east side of town. _

_**So?**_

_Nothing. I just… never mind. _

_**What? I'm too cute to be from the bad side of town? **_

Cherry looked up quickly, sighing in relief at Alice's teasing smile. _Pretty much,_ she wrote. _Just kidding. But I really did think you were from the west side._

_**Surprise.**_ Her mouth was set in a firm line. Cherry wondered if she had offended her.

_I'm sorry; I didn't mean anything by it._

Alice sighed before scrawling her reply. _**It doesn't matter. I don't think you'd want to be friends with me anyway.**_

_Why?_

_**Because you just won't.**_

It was Cherry's turn to frown. _You can't just say something like that and not answer my question._

_**Watch me.**_

_You're being rude._

_**Yep.**_

For a few minutes Cherry sat up straight in her chair, ignoring the younger girl. Then temptation got the better of her. _Please tell me?_

_**No.**_

_Why not?_

_**Because you seem pretty cool, and I don't want to ruin it.**_ Cherry glanced sideways at Alice, but the brown-haired girl was looking at her hands, folded on her desk.

_Oh, I get it._

_**?**_

_You're on the run from the law. You've robbed a bank._

_**How'd you know?**_

They didn't pass any more notes that class.

At the end of the hour, Cherry stood up quickly, catching Alice's arm. "Alice, come on," she begged. "I'd like to be friends with you too but I can't do that unless you're being honest with me."

"It's nothing bad," promised Alice. "It's not like I really did rob a bank or anything. It'll just work better if I don't tell you. Honestly."

The redhead sighed, but gave in—for now. "What do you have next?"

"Chemistry," replied Alice after glancing down at her schedule.

"Do you know where that is?" Alice shook her head. Cherry glanced around, looking for someone who might have that class next to ask if they would take Alice there. She asked a boy named Matt who lived on her street, who said he had been in that class but transferred out.

"But," he continued, "it's on my way. Come on." So he showed Alice where the chemistry class was and waved at her as she walked in. Alice guessed that he probably didn't know she wasn't a Soc. She had to sell lemonade and cut lawns to earn money for jeans, but her mom was so happy whenever she wanted a new dress that she would scrape together enough for a nice one.

Alice showed the teacher her schedule and confirmed that she was in the right place before being sent to an empty desk. She was in the third row, between a pimply boy in a sweater and a cute blonde girl with a pink dress on. Ignoring the boy, she grinned at the girl and fluttered her fingers in a wave. So yeah, she was flirting. But the girl waved back and didn't look upset, and besides, it was a distraction that helped her nerves a bit.

The class droned on, and Alice was lucky that she didn't try passing a note to Cute Blonde Girl because this teacher was apparently more attentive. When Pimple Boy tried to stick gum on the bottom of his desk, the teacher noticed and made him stick the chewed-up gum behind his ear.

Art, which was a total joke, was next, and Alice sat quietly listening to Mrs. Linkman talk about art history. Half of the things she said, she contradicted herself. "Well, in China, you see, the Qin dynasty was from the 1700s to 1100s B.C…. no, my mistake, that was the _Shang_ period, and, um…. it was from the 1700s to 1100s B.C. The Qin—no, the Han dynasty—was when Chinese art really flourished." Alice was disappointed—it sounded like it would have been kind of interesting, had the teacher not been so incompetent.

At the end of class, she followed the masses of students toward where she hoped the cafeteria was. Quickly she filled up a tray and started looking for a table that was either empty or had people that didn't look too intimidating. Her eyes scanned the room and she grinned when she spotted Cherry waving her over.

The girls she was with seemed nice, but Alice found herself comparing them all to Laura. Luckily none were blonde, and none were nearly as pretty except, she thought, for Cherry. One girl, Marcia, had short brown hair. Another, Joanna, was also a brunette, but her hair was curly. The third had black hair and bright blue eyes, and her name was Lisa.

Mostly she just talked to Cherry, who seemed nicest. A few boys came by the table and introduced themselves, and some girls from other tables. Maybe Tulsa about half the size of Kansas City, but it did have some good-looking girls. When they weren't hovering by the table, Cherry pointed out others in the cafeteria that she knew.

At one point, she said, "You know what? That street you told me you live on—I think I know someone else who lives here." She looked around and shook her head. "But he doesn't eat in the cafeteria, I don't think. His name's Ponyboy." Alice snorted and nearly spat out her milk.

"Already met him," she choked out, and then paused until she could stop coughing. "Ugh, I hope I never see him again."

"Ponyboy Curtis?" Cherry looked surprised. "He's a sweet boy; why would you say that?"

Too late, Alice realized that now she would have to explain what she had been wearing the day before. "Well, um, I had on jeans, and apparently I looked like a guy, and him and all of his friends were being jerks." She tried to brush it off.

"You looked like a guy," the redhead repeated, clearly not believing her.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll wear 'em tomorrow so you can see."

"Oookay," laughed Cherry, still unable to believe that this girl could ever pass as a boy. Had she thought that she was serious, she would have warned Alice about the dress code. But she didn't think about it—after all, Alice would never be dumb enough to wear _pants_ to school.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Would you look at that? Another update. Shortish, but at least it exists.  
By the way, while writing, Mr. Wilson's voice started sounding like Alan Rickman in my head... it was very, very strange.

EDIT (17/02/09): Dammit! I edited this a really long time ago but it didn't frickin' change! Stupid computer... ah well, 'tis fixed now.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Outsiders.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed and nothing too terrible happened. At one point Alice passed one of those boys from the day she first moved in—Two-Bit or something—but he didn't say anything. _Probably doesn't recognize me,_ she realized. And that was fine by her. The farther away from them she could get, the better.

The next day at school she showed up in calculus class wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. For a moment Cherry thought they had another new student, and then her eyes widened in understanding.

"Alice?" she asked, not sure if she believed it.

"Yep."

"Oh my God, Alice, you can't wear that!"

"Apparently I can, 'cause I am."

"No, I mean you're not—"

A throat clearing interrupted the conversation as the other students looked on. Alice turned around. Mr. Wilson cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms with a frown. She waited.

Finally he asked, "Do you have an explanation for this?"

"What?"

"Do you have an explanation for your clothing?"

"Oh," she said. "Not really."

He raised his eyebrows, sucked in some air, and blew out. "We have a dress code here, _Miss_ Morton," he said sternly, stressing the 'miss'. "Young ladies will dress like young ladies—that means a dress or a skirt from now on, please." After that he just walked to the front of the classroom and opened his book. The class settled down after the disturbance and prepared for another boring first hour. But Alice wasn't finished. She stuck her hand in the air, and, upon being ignored, cleared her own throat.

"Mr. Wilson, I'm sorry, but did you say I'm not allowed to wear my jeans?"

Cherry stared. Hadn't she just told Alice yesterday that Mr. Wilson hated being interrupted?

"That's correct, Miss Morton." He looked down again.

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why can't I wear my jeans to school?"

"I don't know how things work in Kansas City," he explained through his teeth, "but here people are born male or female for a reason, and we dress that way. You are a young lady, and therefore you will dress _like a young lady_," he repeated. The class snickered.

Alice rolled her eyes, and Mr. Wilson went back to his lesson. A good fifteen minutes later, she raised her hand again. He took no notice, so she just interrupted him.

"Mr. Wilson, could you tell me the consequences of breaking the dress code?"

His eyes could have shot laser beams and fried her head. "Since apparently you had no warning of the dress code, today shall be considered a warning."

"And in the future?" she asked. "If I… forget?"

"I would advise you not to forget," he said, articulating every syllable. "If you do… well, you can find out the consequences then."

Alice was furious. _**That's a threat**_, she scribbled to Cherry. _**Can he do that?**_

_He's a teacher, he can do whatever he wants. What the hell were you thinking?_

_**What? I'm not allowed to dress how I want?**_

_Actually, you're not. _Cherry glanced pointedly at Mr. Wilson.

_**Ah. Right. Well, that's stupid. **_

_Why are you so dead set on wearing your jeans anyway?_

_**Because I like them. You got a problem with that?**_

Cherry sighed at reading this. _So defensive_, she wrote. _No, I don't have a problem with that. I just think it's a lot of trouble over something that doesn't matter much._

Walking home from school that afternoon, she stopped at the DX to buy a Mountain Dew. Normally she liked Coke better, but dealing with teachers all day made her tired, and she was never going to finish all of her homework without some caffeine in her system.

As she handed her money over the counter, the person taking it said, "Hey!"

Alice's eyes traveled from the hand holding her money to the face it belonged to. "Shit," she muttered, turning away.

"No, wait!" the boy yelled. "You're that chick!"

She restrained herself from saying, _And you're that asshole!_

"Alice, right?" he asked, coming up next to her.

"What do you want?" she demanded, looking up into the boy's brown eyes.

He looked bewildered for a moment, then stuck out his hand. "I'm Sodapop Curtis," he said, grinning.

Even to someone who didn't like boys, his grin was cute. Grudgingly, she shook his hand. "Seriously, that's your name?"

He nodded. "Hey, how's your wolf?"

"He's an Akita," she corrected, but she was smiling. "He's fine. You got a dog?"

"Nah," Soda shook his head. "Used to ride horses, but I never owned one. Hey, Steve!" he yelled suddenly as another worker walked out of the station. Alice muttered another curse.

"Steve, meet Alice. Again," Soda added as the other boy reached them.

Steve smirked and stuck out his hand. "Why hello, young _lady_," he said.

Alice flipped him off. "What's up?"

He shook his head. "Boy, Soda, you sure picked up a nice one."

Sodapop and Alice looked at each other quickly and stepped away a little bit. "Gross!" Alice said. "No offense, it's just…" she trailed off.

_Idiot! Idiot!_ she thought. _Now you have to tell them!_

Soda looked a little offended. "It's just…?"

Ignoring Steve, she looked straight at the nicer of the two. _Nothing to hide, Alice. Who cares what they think? _

"I like girls, actually."

"Oh," Soda said. Steve frowned and nudged him.

"Well, I gotta go," she said. "See you later, I guess."

"See ya!" Soda waved at her and smiled. As she walked away again, he followed. "Hey, wait! You know that's cool with me, right?"

Steve's voice drifted to them. "Soda? What the hell are you doing?"

"Honestly," Alice sighed, "I don't care what you think. But thanks."

Feeling like she'd been a bit harsh, she smiled, and Soda smiled back. Finally, an ally. Cherry didn't count, because she didn't know. Yet.


	5. Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Outsiders.

A/N: A chapter! Aren't you proud?

EDIT: Aw, dammit. Edited for a switch to first person halfway through. Actually, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. I can't seem to stay in third person for long...

* * *

The next day was Thursday, and Alice was extremely happy about that. After winter break, school had begun on a Tuesday instead of a Monday, so the week was only four days long. Once more day and Alice could have killed something.

Thursday morning she showed up at school half-expecting that Steve guy to have told everyone, but nobody said anything. When she made it to first period without one person calling her a dyke or saying, "Hey, I heard you were a lesbian," Alice sighed in relief. _I'm going to tell them,_ she told herself. _Just not right now._

Cherry got there after Alice that day, and, though she had left it alone on Wednesday, set right in on trying to figure out what the new girl was hiding from her. It wasn't that she was trying to be rude, but Alice had seemed upset about it. Maybe telling someone would help. (Also, Cherry did sort of want to know.)

"Hey, Alice," she said, walking in and sitting down at her desk.

The brunette grinned at her, looking a bit shaky in Cherry's opinion. "Hey."

"What's wrong?" Cherry asked, concerned. "You look freaked out."

Alice shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay."

"Okay," Cherry replied doubtfully. She paused for a second, still not buying it, but during that second, Mr. Wilson walked in and the class went silent. Cherry wasn't finished with her conversation, though, and this time she was determined to find out what was going on.

_Alice. What's wrong? I'm not dumb._

_**Dammit. I was really hoping you'd just let it go.**_

_Look, if you really want me to, I will. I just feel like it might help if you would tell me._

_**You know, it probably would. But it's more complicated than that.**_

_How?_ Cherry was getting more and more frustrated.

_**I'd feel better, but then I'd have to deal with the consequences of telling you.**_

_Alright,_ Cherry wrote,_ fine._ Then, feeling she'd been too harsh, she wrote on a second piece of paper, _You can tell me if you change your mind, okay? _

_**Thanks.**_

Alice skipped lunch that day, not really wanting to talk to Cherry. Instead she spent the period sitting on the ground in the parking lot.

* * *

On Fridays, Cherry had explained that first lunch they had together, the last-period study halls were turned into free periods where the students could roam the school and study anywhere they liked. Most kids were found in the science classrooms, blowing things up for the fun of it, and some ditched the end of the day altogether. Alice took advantage of the situation and, sitting on a bench in one of the hallways, started a letter to Laura.

_**Hey, hon.**_

_**God, Laura, I miss you. I know that's about the most cliché way in the world to start a letter, but it needed to be said. I miss everyone at school and the teachers and… oh, screw it. I miss Kansas City in general. The first people I met here thought I was a boy and then went into hysterical laughter when they realized I wasn't. And my Calculus teacher threatened me when I wore jeans to school. **_

_**How's everyone? Are you surviving without me? Ha-ha, just kidding. I know you've probably already got a new girl. (Kidding again!) Do I need to come back and beat anyone up for you? (That one was serious.) How are your mom and dad and Andrew? Kenji misses you. He said to tell you hi. :)**_

_**I guess it isn't all that horrible. This one girl in my Calculus class, Cherry, is pretty cool, but she keeps bugging me to tell her. I was talking to her the first day and I said she probably wouldn't like being friends if she knew me for real. (What good-looking girl—and she is good-looking--- wants to be friends with a lesbian?) So now she won't let it go.**_

And she was walking down the hallway. Alice quickly closed the notebook.

"What have you got there?" Cherry asked teasingly. "Blueprints for that bank?"

Alice wasn't in a teasing mood. She was pretty pissed that she didn't get to finish her letter. "Could you leave me alone?"

Cherry frowned. "What's your problem? Did I do something?"

Alice didn't say anything. Before she could react to the other girl's movement, Cherry had the notebook in her hands and was darting down the hall.

_Shit._

"Cherry, what the hell? That's mine!"

"You've got no reason to talk to me like that. I never did anything to you!"

"Well, you just stole my personal property!" Alice yelled.

Cherry flipped it open to the last page that was written on. Holding it above her head so Alice couldn't reach, she read, spinning in circles as the younger girl tried to jump up and snatch it away.

"Please, Cherry," she begged. "Give it back."

Cherry's eyes widened as she read the last of it, ignoring her. Alice felt hers fill with tears. Cherry's arm—the one holding the notebook—dropped to her side; her hand went slack and the stolen property hit the floor. She stared at her 'friend', looking very angry.

"Bitch," Alice whispered, unable to think of anything else to say. The tears rolled down her cheeks; she angrily swiped them away. She heard footsteps coming down the hallway then and realized that they had been yelling at each other. Someone must have heard. Still both too stunned to do anything, Cherry just stood there, and Alice sank to the floor and put her head in her hands. _I will not start sobbing, I will not start sobbing… _she told herself furiously, but she couldn't help it.

"Girls? What's going on?" Alice looked up. Her English teacher, Mrs. Baum, was standing there looking very confused. Cherry's eyes by then didn't look mad, just shocked. Alice was shocked too. She couldn't believe she was a sophomore in high school and bawling like a baby. Taking one quick deep breath, she forced herself to calm down.

"Nothing," she sighed, breathing a bit unevenly. "We're fine." She looked up at Cherry, pleading with her eyes not to tell. The redhead nodded just barely.

Alice liked Mrs. Baum then even more then than she already had. "Why don't you two just go on home now? It looks to me like you've had enough for the day?" The girls both thanked her quietly and walked in different directions, Cherry with her head straight and high in the air, and Alice still shaking a little, clutching her notebook to her chest.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I live! An update! Wrote this a long time ago, computer stopped working again, then it had a brief burst of intelligence so I'm back. And beginning to think this is crap. Review or PM with advice, ideas, or whether I should continue this, pretty please?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders... once again...**

Alice wasn't sure who started it, and in the end it didn't really matter. Whether it was Steve, Soda, or Cherry Valance, the outcome would have been the same—complete and utter shit.

She and her mother got into a screaming match on Monday morning (about her wearing jeans, of course), so she barely had time to stuff her ski coat in her locker and grab her books before the bell rang. She slid into her seat just as Mr. Wilson walked into the classroom. When he noticed what she was wearing, he called Alice up to him, scrawled a note, and sent her to the office with it.

The office gave her a detention slip for Dress Code Violation.

Having fully expected it, Alice was more annoyed than anything. She took the slip back to Mr. Wilson, got it signed, and took her seat. Cherry was on the other side of the room that day, leaving Alice between two boys she didn't know. As soon as she had opened her book again (now in a significantly worse mood), one of them whispered to her, "What's up, queer?"

_Oh fuck,_ Alice thought. Then she ignored him.

"I said, 'What's up?'" he repeated, a little louder.

"Shut up," she whispered. "I've already got one detention and you're sure as hell not getting me another one."

The other boy started in then. "Aww, what a cute little dyke… all tough and shit."

Alice took deep breaths and didn't reply to anything the boys said during the rest of the class. One of them shoved her on the way out, but she could handle that. It would only get worse, she knew.

In Chemistry, Cute Blonde Girl from the first day—her name was Isabel—frowned at Alice when she walked in. "Um, sorry if it's not true, but… I heard you were a lez."

"Good news travels fast," the 'lez' muttered, slumping down into her seat. Isabel whispered to another girl, and the two of them scurried to the other side of the room.

"It's not contagious!" Alice called after them. She was actually grateful when they didn't answer.

On the way to lunch, a junior slammed her into a locker. She decided maybe the cafeteria wasn't such a good idea, so she went to go hide in the bathroom. When she entered, the Socy girls loitering by the mirror talking hurried out, looking terrified.

Alice spent lunch locked in a stall. Fun, fun, fun.

Finally, the day was over. Alice never expected to be outed so quickly, but she knew it was her own fault. She was the one who had babbled about how it was gross for her to date Soda and then had to explain why; it was her who had stupidly told Cherry 'I don't think you'd want to be friends with me' and who was too slow to get her own notebook back…. So she pretty much felt like a big idiot on top of all the other lousy stuff.

It got worse.

She was almost to her street when the boys that had been bothering her in Calculus plus a couple others turned onto the sidewalk about half a block in front of her. _Don't be paranoid, Alice_, she told herself. _They're allowed to walk home, too._

Except that they definitely weren't from the greaser neighborhood.

And they were walking towards her.

"Hey, queer," one of them said as they approached. She rolled her eyes and tried to go around them.

"Where you going?" another asked, stepping out in front of her.

"C'mon, jerks, leave me alone," she snapped.

The boys laughed. "C'mon, lez, we just wanna have some fun!" One grabbed her from behind and shoved her up against the chain-link fence. She fought, but these guys were juniors and there were four of them. A fist made contact with her stomach and she gasped.

"Whoa, man, you can't hit a girl!" the smallest boy exclaimed in mock horror.

The one who had punched her smiled coldly, and she returned his icy glare. "She ain't a girl," he laughed menacingly. "She's a fuckin' queer, and…" Apparently he couldn't think of anything else to say—whether too stupid or too impatient to hit her again she couldn't tell, but he punched her in the nose this time, and it started to bleed freely. Alice punched back, making solid contact with his cheekbone, and this time the boy swore.

The others laughed as his hand flew to his cheek. Quickly he hooked a foot behind her knee and she dropped to the ground. Pretending to be more hurt than she was, Alice lay still as the boys, still laughing cruelly, began to file away. Her hand darted out to grab an ankle, and the body attached to it fell just as hard as she had. She was rewarded with a kick for her efforts, and several of them spat on her, but she felt a hell of a lot better.

Alice decided to just stay there for a while, though it probably wasn't the safest thing to do, because she was feeling sort of dizzy. Her nose was still bleeding, too. She pinched it with her fingers and tilted her head back, eyes closed, but it didn't seem to do much good. The blood just kept pouring down as she sat with her back against the fence.

"You okay, lesbo?" a cheerful voice said after not too long.

"I have a name," she replied, annoyed, without opening her eyes.

"Yeah, I know," the voice said, closer this time. "Alice. Alice the lesbo."

She opened her eyes and saw a familiar face… God, what was his name? Two-Bit! Fuck! "What is with me running into you guys?" She slammed her head back into the fence.

"I'd say I ran into you," he remarked, sticking out a hand. "And I do live on this street."

"What?" she asked, staring at the hand, confused.

"You're fuckin' bleeding," he replied. "Come on."

"I'm fine," she sighed, grabbing for a link of the fence and pulling herself up. She staggered a little. "I can take care of myself."

Two-Bit stared as a large drop of blood hit the pavement, then another. Alice looked at him defiantly. When he stuck out his hand again, she frowned. But when he started walking, still looking at her, she sighed and followed.

Soon they reached what Alice guessed was Two-Bit's house. She was hesitant about coming in—"I'm bleeding…"—but Two-Bit just laughed.

"Ain't much more anybody can do to mess up this place, dyke," he told her, leading the way into the kitchen.

"Could you not call me that?" Alice rolled her eyes.

Two-Bit grinned. "Why not? You are a dyke, aren't you?"

Annoyed, but still somewhat amused at his 'logic,' Alice took the wet washcloth he handed her and held it under her nose, pinching with the other hand. "Yes," she replied, "but you don't have to say it with every sentence. It's a waste of time to tell me I like chicks. I already know that."

The older boy laughed again. "You're not so bad…dyke." This time she could tell he was joking.

"Yeah, neither are you… straight boy." Two-Bit stared at her. "See?" Alice said, grinning. "Pointless."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Two months later, a chapter! Not much action here, more reaction. I'm really gonna try hard to get another one up soon. **

Cherry Valance sat at the desk in her bedroom Monday night with her head in her hands. Her family was downstairs in the dining room having dinner, but she had claimed a headache and skipped the meal. It was somewhat true; her mind was overwhelmed and racing with thoughts of Alice... she felt terrible.

At first her intentions had been good-- she only wanted to help. If Alice told her what was wrong, she thought, she would be able to make her feel better. But then she had been upset with the new girl for not explaining, and had stolen her notebook. Now she understood why Alice hadn't wanted to tell her. She was a lesbian... and she thought Cherry was good-looking... and Cherry didn't know what to think of that. Part of her thought it was exciting- not only did she appeal to boys, but girls as well. The other part was terrified- a _lesbian _thought she was cute. What did that mean? Would she try anything? What was Cherry supposed to do about it?

But still, she felt guilty about what she had done. Totally freaked out after reading the letter to who she assumed was Alice's ex-girlfriend, she had called Marcia after school on Friday. Well, Marcia was her best friend, and this was big news, and she had to tell _someone._ She made Marcia swear not to tell, but clearly she wasn't _that_ trustworthy... which Cherry had to admit to herself that she had already known. Deep down she had known it would spread the second she opened her mouth and spilled over the phone about the new student's sexuality. At the time, she had hated Alice so much that she didn't care. _Filthy queer..._ she had thought. But now she wasn't so sure.

Cherry had never had a huge problem with queers like most people did. Sure, the subject made her a bit uncomfortable, but she wasn't the type to walk up to one and scream at them about how they were going to hell. So now she had actually met one-- what was the big difference? Alice hadn't stared at Cherry's boobs, or tried to rape her in an empty classroom, or done anything even vaguely creepy. She had worried about what Cherry would think if she knew, which meant that she valued Cherry's friendship... so really, she wasn't all that bad.

_Great, Cherry,_ the redhead thought to herself. _It's a good thing you've come to this conclusion after completely ruining her life! _All day people had been horrible to her, calling her names and shoving her all over the place. Alice had lost the few friends that she had made and the chance at getting any new ones. And it was Cherry's fault.

She sighed and let her head fall forward, landing hard on the desk.

* * *

"Hey, Soda, you know that Alice chick?" Steve called out suddenly from underneath a car.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Everybody knows she digs chicks now."

Soda looked up from the magazine he was reading with his feet up on the counter. "She tell 'em already?"

"Nope, she definitely didn't tell. She wouldn't be that dumb."

"Steve..." Soda frowned, a thought coming to his mind. "You didn't..."

Steve emerged from under the car. "No way, man. I don't like it, but I wouldn't do that."

Soda wasn't so sure about that. Steve was his best buddy, but he knew that telling everyone about Alice liking girls was definitely something he would do. Steve could tell that Soda didn't believe him.

"The Socs knew first, man. One of them must have found out and spread it around their friends. Then it trickled on down to the low-life greasers," he added bitterly.

If the Socs had known first, then Steve definitely hadn't told. Soda believed him on that, and dropped the subject for a few minutes, returning to his magazine.

"She doing okay?" he asked a while later. Steve looked up again.

"What?"

"Is Alice okay, are people bitching about her?" Soda repeated.

Steve stared. "Of course people are bitching about her, this is Oklahoma! It might not be such a big deal in KC, but here..."

"But you're not, right?"

"Soda..."

"Steve! She's just a person, sheesh. Would ya be nice to her?"

"Be nice to the lez? Come on, Sodapop," Steve sighed.

"Whatever," Soda replied, glancing at his watch. "It's time to go, you can lock up."

Steve sighed as his best friend walked away. He wasn't trying to be mean, but Soda had to know how people would react if he started being nice to Alice. That was _not _going to happen.

* * *

"Ponyboy!" Soda yelled for the third time. "Come downstairs and eat!" Unlike the last two times, the response was footsteps running down the stairs rather than "I'm busy!" The table was set with spaghetti and meatballs getting cold and Darry and Soda halfway through theirs by the time the youngest Curtis boy finally decided to come down and eat.

After a few minutes of silence as he wolfed down his first serving, Pony got himself some more spaghetti and said, "You guys know Alice from across the street?"

Soda, having known it was coming, just nodded and kept eating. Darry asked, "What about her?"

"Did you know she's..." Pony looked uncomfortable. "She's gay?"

Darry's eyebrows met in one line. "Really..." he muttered, looking thoughtful. Then he glanced at his youngest brother. "Well, it wouldn't surprise me the way she dresses," he said. "Why, did something happen?"

Ponyboy nodded. "Everybody's talking about it at school. And I saw Two-Bit and he told me she got in a fight about it or something."

"Makes sense," Darry nodded. "There's a lot of people here that wouldn't like that."

"What do you think?" Pony asked.

"Well..." the oldest Curtis seemed to be searching for the right words. "I'm not... completely supportive, but I don't think she should get beaten up for it. I don't wanna hear about you getting involved with any of that, you hear?"

Soda snorted over his plate. Like Pony would ever beat up anyone for such a stupid reason, let alone a girl.

Later, after Pony had gone up to bed, Darry turned to Soda. "You already knew about this." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, she told me and Steve the other day," Soda replied, pulling his eyes off the TV to look at his brother.

"She told Steve?"

Soda nodded. "She's a tough little piece of shit, that's for sure. Didn't show no weakness about it... just said it like it was cold, plain fact."

"Well, then... don't let her know, I don't think she'd like it-- but would you kinda watch out for her?"

"Dar, come on..." Soda sighed. "I don't go to school with her and that's where the worst is gonna happen. I wanna help her but she won't like it one bit. This isn't a good idea."

"Just if you see her in any sort of trouble... well you'd help any other greaser girl, this ain't no different. Don't go lookin' for ways to help her, but offer if the situation calls for it."

Soda gave Darry a weird look. "I woulda done that anyway..." he said.

Darry grinned. "I know you would, Pepsi-Cola. Thanks."

* * *

Cherry Valance, hours after faking a headache, was still awake. It wasn't too late, only ten, but she could already tell she wouldn't get any sleep with her guilt. Sighing, she rolled over in bed, switched on the light, and reached for the phone to call Alice.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Fairly long one this time. I don't know if it's crap or not... I enjoyed writing it, but that may just mean it's worse crap than usual. =] Reviews are awesome!**

"Alice!" Mrs. Morton yelled up the stairs. "Telephone!"

Alice had heard the phone ring but hadn't moved from her facedown spot on the bed. "Who is it?" she shouted back. There was silence for a few seconds as her mother, who no doubt had forgotten the caller's name by now, asked, and then Alice heard, "Cherry Valance. From calculus."

"I don't wanna talk to her!" Alice yelled back, pissed off. Cherry was one of the three possible people who had told her secret, and even if she hadn't told, she had been a bitch about the notebook. Alice couldn't imagine what she wanted and what had made her think she could call.

"Alice..." her mother's tone was warning.

She sighed. "Fine!" she yelled, picking up the phone from her bedside table. "I've got it!" she added so her mom would hang up.

"Hello?" she said angrily.

"Hi, Alice, it's Cherry."

"I know; what do you want?"

"I..." Cherry was taken aback. She should have known that Alice would be mad, but she hadn't prepared herself well for it. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, really? I thought you just called for no apparent reason."

"Come on, Alice, would you listen to me? Please?" Why in the world was she begging?

"Fine," the younger girl sighed. "What?"

"I told. I told Marcia and I made her promise not to tell and deep down I guess I always sorta knew she would, but..." she trailed off helplessly.

Alice didn't say anything.

"And I just... I'm really, really sorry. I was mad at you because you wouldn't tell me what was wrong and when I read your letter... it freaked me out. I've never met a... anyone like that before—"

"You've never met anyone like what before?" Alice interrupted. Cherry knew that she was just trying to get her to say the word, and she wasn't in the mood for playing that sort of game, so she just said it.

"I've never met a lesbian before, alright? So I was scared and I didn't really know what to think so I called Marcia. And it's my fault and I'm sorry."

Alice thought for a minute. "Sorry doesn't fix it," she said then.

"I know," Cherry sighed, "And I don't expect you to forgive me, but I feel so horrible... I did want to be friends with you, Alice. And I still do."

"Really?" Alice asked after a short pause, surprised.

"Well... I mean, this doesn't really change anything, does it?" the redhead twisted a strand of hair around her finger nervously before realizing what she was doing and forcing herself to stop. "It would be different if you had tried to chat me up or something."

"Cherry... I appreciate that, but people won't like it. Name-calling isn't the worst of it, and if we start hanging out, you know what people will think."

Cherry's heart seemed to trip over something for just a moment. She wasn't sure if it was fear of what would happen if people did think she was gay, or some sort of attention-needy excitement for the same reason. The second possibility made her think of Bob... she sounded just like Bob. Her nails dug into her fist. Then she realized she had been sitting silently on the phone.

"You okay?" Alice's voice said into her ear.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about stuff."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She could hear the smile in Alice's voice as she good-naturedly half-mocked Cherry.

Suddenly Cherry wanted to talk about it. She had forced herself to think about Bob and tell people what had happened during the trial, but since then she had shoved him to the back of her mind. All of a sudden she felt like she could say everything that had been bothering her and maybe it wouldn't hurt quite so bad...

"It's just... my boyfriend. Well, he was my boyfriend. He died."

"Oh," Alice said. "How?"

"He was drunk. And you know Ponyboy, who lives on your street?"

"Yeah..."

"Bob—that's him, my boyfriend—and some friends were wandering around in greaser territory and came across Ponyboy and his friend Johnny. They were going to kill them... and Johnny had this switchblade."

Alice could guess what happened next. "Oh."

"I know he deserved it, but... I had to testify against him. And he was a good guy when he wasn't drinking." Cherry's eyes had tears in them. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I started talking about this; I never talk about it."

"It's okay," assured Alice. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"You could be on the phone with What's-Her-Name. Laura?" Cherry winced. That came out ruder than she expected. She had only been trying to make conversation.

"It's long-distance," Alice explained. "I'm thinking of having her out here over summer break, though. You and her would get along well. She's kinda weird. Likes the Beatles."

"You don't?" Cherry teased, knowing the answer. As a rule, most greasers didn't.

"Ew," Alice said. They both laughed.

"I miss her, though," she continued with a sigh. "Oh, sorry... not trying to freak you out or anything."

"No," said Cherry, "I don't mind." And strangely, she didn't. Wait... she didn't mind hearing about her sort-of-friend's girlfriend? The lesbian? What? "That's so annoying..." she muttered.

"What is?"

"Just that... I really don't mind hearing about Laura, but," she paused, not wanting to offend Alice, then talked quickly to get it out, "I feel like I should. I mean, everyone around here's been bred to hate gays, and suddenly discovering that you're just normal people is a little strange. And I hate that it's weird that it's so normal."

"Um... what?"

Cherry laughed. "Okay... I don't feel weird to hear you talk about Laura; it feels normal I guess. But then I think it's weird for me to think it's normal. Oh God, never mind! I'm not making any sense!" The girls' helpless giggles returned.

"I get what you're saying," said Alice when they were done. "I mean, a few minutes ago I hated you and now I feel like good friends. It _is_ kinda weird."

"Hello?" a male voice suddenly said.

"Mike, I'm on the phone!" snapped Cherry.

"Well, would you get off it?"

"Gimme a few minutes, okay?"

"Fine," the voice sighed. "Seriously. Hurry." There was a click as the voice disappeared.

"Sorry, that was my brother," Cherry explained. "He's a senior."

"He seems... friendly," Alice snorted.

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad he didn't hear the earlier part of our conversation. He isn't what I'd call the most accepting person in the world."

"What does he want the phone for?" the younger girl ignored the last comment, not wanting to be thrown back into the real world just yet.

"Who knows," sighed Cherry. "I should probably go, though."

"Hey, real quick..."

"Yeah?"

"What happened to that Johnny kid? Did he get off?"

"Oh," Cherry's voice was soft. "They ran, him and Pony. Hopped a train and hid out in Windrixville. Their friend Dallas went up to get them but there was a fire in the church they'd been staying in. Ponyboy and Johnny went in to rescue some kids inside. Pony got out but the roof collapsed on Johnny."

Alice's eyes were wide as she listened. Pony, the jerk from across the street, risked his life to save some little kids?

"They took all three of them to the hospital. Pony didn't have to stay, but the others did. There was a rumble because the Soc guys were pissed off at them for killing Bob. Dallas went to the rumble, and the greasers won."

There was a 'but' coming, Alice could feel it. "But...?" she prompted.

"But Johnny died. Dallas went crazy I guess, robbed a store and pulled a gun on the police. Apparently it wasn't loaded, but of course they didn't know that. They shot him, which was what he wanted. Him and Johnny were real close."

"Wow," was all Alice could say.

"Ponyboy really is a nice kid. He's pretty young, but he gets it. You should talk to him sometime," Cherry suggested quietly.

"Oh... okay," agreed Alice, still a little shocked. "Cherry?"

"Yeah?"

"From what you just told me... you did the right thing testifying against Bob."

"Thanks," the older girl said, and from her voice, Alice would guess she was smiling.

"So... I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Okay. It was actually really nice talking to you," Cherry laughed a little.

"Gee, thanks. I'm so honored," remarked Alice with her usual sarcasm.

"Talk to you later," said the redhead.

"'Bye," they both said. Alice grinned after hanging up the phone. Who would have guessed a Soc would be almost as easy to talk to as Laura?


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Yay, fluffy lesbian majikal updatey goodness! Oh, this is why I shouldn't be allowed to post things at 1:32 A.M. Enjoy and please review.**

A week later, Alice was still alive, which, if she was honest with herself, was a blessing. She learned back ways around and used them almost every day to escape from people who would sometimes harass her and sometimes just beat her up. She was refusing to spend much time with Cherry so that the bashing wouldn't spread to the Soc girl as well. She studied a lot at home and tried to spend as little time as possible out on the streets, which just killed her 'cause staying inside and hiding was not her style at all, but when you're friendless and in a new town you've got to be careful. The most exciting thing to happen to her all week was when she received the reply to the letter she had sent to Laura after updating it with the details of Cherry reading the notebook and her being outed.

_Hi girl,_

_Whoa, first of all. That Cherry chick sounds… I don't even know. Maybe I'm prejudiced 'cause you said she's good-looking, but I think that was a pretty lousy thing to do with the notebook. And you've got to be more careful! You could get killed for this down there, I mean we've got some hippies in KC so it's a little more open, but in Tulsa they don't have any of that, do they? I guess the damage is done, people know now, so I'm officially worried about you. _

_And I miss you, a lot. I know we're supposed to be 'moving on' or whatever but you should know you still mean the world to me. I think about you all the time and I can't wait to see you again. Nothing is happening here; I'm starting to realize how boring my life is without you in it._

_Now I guess I should answer what you asked in your letter since that would be the point of you sending it. Everyone's normal, I guess. We're making it without you, but just barely. No, I haven't got a new girl and I don't want one; but I'll be sure to let you know if I need anyone taken down, ha-ha. Mom and Dad are the usual—fighting a lot, but it keeps them distracted so they don't ask about where I am all the time, which is a plus I guess. Andrew misses you a lot but he's keeping busy with whatever middle-school boys do. Please tell Kenji that I tell him hi back!_

_Oh, by the way, I've found another one of us! Andrew was talking about some middle school gossip which normally I wouldn't listen to but he started talking about this 8__th__ grader there were rumors going around about that she was a lesbian, and I talked to her when I was getting him from school one day and I was POSITIVE that she was. So I met her at the park (this sounds really sinister, but I swear I'm not a pedo!) and asked her, and she got all pissed off at first but eventually she admitted it so now I guess I've sort of taken her under my wing. I even told her about you and she wants to meet you, so now you _have _to come and visit, for the sake of the children! Ha-ha, I should shut up now._

_Love and miss you,_

_Laura_

Alice had both laughed and nearly cried while reading it. Laura was the same as ever—enthusiastic, long-winded, a little too honest, and very in-your-face. All in a pleasant way! And Alice had to admit that she was still in love with her. She never said it in quite so many words (she was never as good with words) but she missed her old girlfriend just as much and thought about her all the time, still. She was worried now, too, at Laura's comment about her parents' fighting. Sure, most parents fought, but it was somehow different with Laura—only, Alice supposed, because she loved her so much. Since the letter she missed her even more, and studied even harder as a distraction.

The studying paid off, apparently, and at dinner the next Friday night Alice bragged to her mother about the A+ calculus test she had just gotten back.

"That's wonderful, dear," Mrs. Morton said, taking the paper from her daughter and shuffling through it before frowning and setting it down. "Well, I can't understand any of it anymore."

"I studied really, really hard," Alice continued, taking it back proudly. "I didn't even go out at all or have any fun this week," she hinted.

Mrs. Morton looked up from her dinner. "What do you want?"

"Please, please, please, please, please can I call Laura tonight?" she burst out, begging like a little kid. "I miss her a lot; she's my best friend!"

Weighing it carefully, Mrs. Morton thought about it. The long-distance call would be expensive, and knowing Alice and Laura they would talk for hours. But it would be good for Alice to get to talk to one of her old friends again since she seemed to be having such a rough adjustment to the new school. And she had been studying exceedingly hard…

"Yes, fine," she sighed, smiling to see her daughter smiling. "I guess you've earned it."

* * *

Minutes later, after rushing to clear her dishes and flopping onto her bed excitedly, Alice dialed the number she had memorized by heart.

"Hello?" a young boy's voice asked after two rings.

"Andrew?" she replied, heart starting to pound at how close she was to talking to Laura. "It's Alice. Is Laura there?"

"Yeah, hold on," he said. Alice heard him yell his sister's name away from the receiver and then add, into the phone, "She's coming."

"Okay, thanks," she said quietly, feeling like it was almost to great to be really happening until—

"Alice?"

"Oh my God, Laura, honey, I miss you so much!" Alice cried, bursting into tears. All the resentment, fear, and anger she'd felt since the move came rushing out, and Laura sat on the other end patiently, whispering to her occasionally and just waiting.

"Sorry," she gasped when she was done. "I've only let myself cry once since I got here, and I shouldn't need to but there's been a lot going on."

Laura laughed quietly. "Don't worry about it. I understand."

She always understood. There was a silence during which the two girls could hear their breathing automatically syncing up. Then Laura added, "I missed you too. Are you okay? Did you get my letter?"

"Yeah, I got it. And no, not really. Well, I guess. I don't know. Everyone knows and I'm having to sneak around and stay inside mostly to keep from getting beat up. You know how I'm kind of rambling right how? Well I mean, you know me better than anyone so you know I do this when I'm nervous. So it's no wonder I blew the secret so fast."

"Calm down," the blonde giggled. "Why are you nervous?"

"'Cause I still love you," Alice apprehensively admitted.

"I love you too," Laura whispered, and Alice could just see her leaning against the kitchen counter, eyes sparkling, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger.

"Can you come out here this summer?"

Laura sighed. "That's a long time to wait. I mean, I'm sure my folks will let me, but I wish I could see you sooner."

"Well, my mom let me call 'cause I aced a calculus test, so if I keep doing this well I might be able to call more often. You know how it is, though, money's tight."

"Yeah. Definitely," the older girl agreed, frowning. "But you smart little thing! Glad to see you can pay attention in calc instead of ogling what's-her-name."

"What, Cherry Valance?" Alice asked, amused by Laura's obvious jealousy. "I still don't know what to think about her. She called and apologized to me and we talked for a while. I think you two would get along. But I definitely don't like her in that way. And she's completely straight."

"Yeah? Hm. Just sounds like a weird chick to me."

"Funny," the brunette replied, "'cause I told her I thought you could be friends because _you_ are such a weird chick."

"Good God," Laura sighed, "What am I going to do with you?"

"Screw me?" Alice suggested hopefully. "Preferably soon?"

"I wish! We've got another five months, unless I can convince Mom and Dad to let me drive out over spring break."

"Well start working on it!" she replied, laughing. "Maybe you should stop corrupting 8th graders and focus on your schoolwork to lighten them up a little," she teased.

"Hey, I didn't corrupt her! I'm helping her, she's got all these questions and I have all these answers!" Laura retorted lightheartedly.

For hours the two girls talked, until finally Mrs. Morton had to say enough was enough unless Alice wanted to pay for the phone bill, so they said their goodbyes after she left the room.

"I love you," Laura said for at least the sixth time during the course of the conversation.

"Love you more!" Alice exclaimed, needing a final opportunity to one-up her.

"Goodnight, you," the older girl sighed happily.

"'Night. Sweet dreams."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Here we go, almost two months later. Yay, updateness! I would love ideas for how and when to end this, so post reviews with feedback and ideas! Enjoy.**

Another Friday rolled around what seemed like an eternity later. Could it really have only been seven days? Each one dragged on and on until Alice wanted to shoot every teacher (and every clock) in the building. And even when Friday came, there was no real relief. Normally a weekend meant she could blow off steam and stay out all night, but she was still getting harassed at school and being out late wasn't the best plan. So she had nothing to do all weekend. Until, on the way home from school, she stopped at the DX.

"Hey Alice," said Soda, grinning, when she walked in. She had been back a few times and he was always friendly to her.

"Hey," she replied tiredly with a little smile. "How've you been?"

"Not too bad." He knew she wanted a Coke by now, like every day, and he got her one as he was talking. "And yourself?"

She just rolled her eyes and paid him. Soda laughed a little. "I bet," he chuckled.

On her way out, he stopped her. "Hey, do you wanna go to the drive-in with me and some guys tonight?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nah, I'll protect you. It'll probably just be Two-Bit and my little brother Pony anyways. They won't mind," he assured her.

"I should say no but I've barely left the house in the last few weeks…" she trailed off.

"Come on," he tried one last time. "It'll be fun."

"Fine," Alice sighed. "Only cause I'm so desperate to get away from my mother."

"Cool," said Soda. "You can come to my house at like seven and we'll walk there."

"Sounds good," she nodded. "See ya."

Alice knocked on the Curtis's door a little after seven that night. The youngest one—Ponyboy?—answered, looking a little embarrassed when he saw it was her. "Hi," he said, looking at the ground. She saw where that was coming from. He seemed pretty innocent sex-wise, and some of the dirty comments made about her in the past few weeks even made _her_ blush, so it was no wonder if he was remembering them now.

"Hey," she said, sticking her hands into her jeans pockets almost-defensively but not quite. "Um…"

"Hey, Alice!" Soda's voice called from another room and he appeared a second later. "You ready, Pone?"

"Yeah," the younger boy said.

"Two-Bit's meeting us there," Soda explained as they stepped off the porch and headed on their way.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as they walked. Finally Alice broke it. "So, Ponyboy, you know Cherry Valance, right?"

The redheaded boy nodded. "Yeah, she's a junior. A soc."

"She's in my calculus class. We were talking about you the other day," she explained.

"What about me?" Ponyboy grinned.

"About how you saved those kids in the church..." Alice trailed off, deciding not to mention his friends dying. "She admires you a lot, I think."

A real, proud smile with just the slightest touch of sadness spread across Pony's face. "She's one good-looking chick," he said appreciatively. Sodapop nodded his agreement. Alice, not sure what they were comfortable with, remained silence.

"Well?" the older boy's demanding voice came a few seconds later. He was looking at Alice.

"Well what?"

"Do you think she's good-looking?" Pony answered for his brother.

"Oh," Alice laughed. "I wasn't gonna say anything in case it weirded you guys out. But yeah, she is. Really gorgeous."

After that, everything was much easier. The three teens were suddenly comfortable around each other, and the conversation progressed until they were all laughing and talking over each other. Alice hadn't felt like this in weeks.

It all ended, of course, with Two-Bit's "Hey, lesbo."

She rolled her eyes. "Hi."

"Hey, come on, Two-Bit," Soda intervened. "Leave her alone." The older boy rolled his eyes, but spat on a hand and held it out to Alice as if asking for a truce.

"A spit-shake?" she cocked an eyebrow. "What are we, seven?"

Two-Bit stared her down.

After a few seconds Alice spit on her own hand and shook with him. He cracked a grin.

By that time the movie was getting ready to start. The four kids hurried to the concession stand to buy popcorn and soda (Alice was only insulted once in the line, and by some little freshman who bolted at one glare from Two-Bit), and then found seats. They just had to wait a few minutes before the movie started.

It was about five minutes in when Two-Bit asked the fateful question. The question that everyone (that is, those who weren't going on and on about how disgusting it was and that Alice was going to hell) felt the need to ask.

"So... have you ever done it with a girl?"

They all watched Ponyboy's ears turn red.

Alice frowned before answering. "Yes, I have."

"Who?" all three said at once, even the blushing fourteen-year-old.

"You don't know her. She's from Kansas City."

Surprisingly, Ponyboy spoke first. "How old were you?"

"The first time? I was sixteen, same as I am now."

"Were you going with her, or was it just sort of a fling?" Soda asked quietly, either not wanting to offend her or not sure if it was a sensitive topic.

"We were dating for five months before. We stayed together until I moved two months later," Alice whispered, staring off to the side of the screen, not seeing anything.

It would have been apparent, if she had been paying attention, that the two older boys were feeling awkward in the situation, but Ponyboy was still intrigued. He quietly asked, "Do you miss her?"

Alice looked at him. "Yeah," she said softly. "Yeah, I do."

"Hey, Alice, I've got an idea. You wanna get out of here?" Soda asked suddenly.

"Sure," she replied, forcing her voice to sound more normal. "Where?"

"Come with me," he said. "Pony.... aw, what the hell, you can come. Darry'll kill me, but you can come."

Buck Merril's place was busy—it was a Friday night after all—and as soon as they got within sight, Alice's heart started pounding in excitement. She could hear the music blasting from all the way down the street.

"Soda..." began Pony. "I don't know if I should—"

"I'll take the blame; I'll tell Darry I dragged you here," interrupted his older brother.

"No, Soda... I don't know if I want to be here. The girls out here are so..."

"Hot!" Two-Bit offered.

"...Easy," finished Pony. "Slutty."

"I'll dance with you, Pony," assured Alice. "I'm sure the guys will want to go have some 'fun'. You can keep your innocence and protect me from penises."

He grinned. "Okay." Soda mouthed 'thanks' over his head, and Alice nodded.

It was exactly what she needed. Since Pony was a boy, she could dance without attracting the sort of attention she would have if she had been dancing with a girl; and since he was younger and still pretty innocent, they could both avoid having moves put on them by people they didn't want. And there was something about dancing that released energy and anger like nothing else.

Sometime between midnight and one, Two-Bit stumbled out of a bedroom with a blonde on his arm. Alice had been dancing with Pony all night, and was feeling better than she had in weeks. Soda, for the most part, had been on the dance floor with several different girls. Alice had drunk a little, but not much—like Soda, she didn't need it. Two-Bit, on the other hand, could barely walk. When they left, Alice and Soda supported him. Something about spending the night blowing off steam by dancing with friends, then dragging one of those friends, drunk and unable to stand up straight, home, gave her a strange sense of belonging. Weird, yes, but very true. And the best thing to happen since she'd moved to Tulsa.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Seems I'm starting every chapter off with an apology for long waits. High school is not treating me well. But, I've got lots of pent-up frustration I can pour into this fic because of personal experience. I'm gonna complain just for a sec: After me being out as a lesbian for almost two years, my friends have all suddenly developed a fatal case of homophobia. So I'm definitely getting some good material =/ Anyways, here's the chapter. Please review!**

"Alice!" She rolled over in her sleep, frowning as the voice interrupted her vague, random dreams. Following the call of her name, there were several loud tapping noises in quick succession, and then another shout.

At the third call, Alice started awake. The voice wasn't in her dream, she realized, it was coming from outside her bedroom window. Sliding out of bed, she shivered as she crossed to her window. Soda, Two-Bit, and a reluctant-looking Steve were standing on the lawn before her.

"Ali-" Soda began again as Alice shoved the window open.

"What the fuck?" she called down in a stage whisper. "My mom's in the house, you assholes!"

But the boys knew Alice well enough by now to be able to tell she was amused. "Will you just get your ass out here," laughed Sodapop.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Fine," she sighed, though her heart was already racing at the thought of sneaking out. She'd had her fair share of it in Kansas City, sure, but it had been a while. "Give me five minutes," she added before closing the window and switching on her lamp.

True to her word, Alice slipped out her front door fully dressed five minutes later. "Took you long enough," said Two-Bit with a smirk.

"I was trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you actually threw pebbles at my window," she said, elbowing him and grinning before turning back to business. "So what's the plan?" she asked all three of the boys.

Soda's eyes danced with excitement as he began to explain. By the time he was done, Alice was twice as excited as she had been a minute before. "I'm in!" she exclaimed the second he was done.

The golden-haired boy just laughed. "You were in whether you liked it or not, sweetheart," he teased. "Just be glad we don't have to force you."

Up until that point, Alice had almost forgotten about Steve. But when Soda nudged him, he let out a quiet, "Hey," still staring at his shoes. He refused to offer more than that or even look up.

By then Alice had had about enough of this. "Look," she sighed, "I plan on having fun tonight. I understand that you have a problem with me; that's fine. But I promise not to talk about girls in front of you if you'll just act like a normal person."

Steve finally tilted his head up. The corners of his mouth twitched just barely as he nodded. "Okay, whatever."

"Come on, let's get outta my yard; if my mom's gonna catch me I'd rather her do it after I've been out than before I even leave the property," Alice pressured, eager to get on the way, and the others agreed.

"But I mean, come on, Steve," Two-Bit added out of nowhere. "There's no possible way you can tell me with a straight face that you don't think it's a little bit hot." Alice rolled her eyes. She should have expected it.

"What?!" Steve exclaimed before muttering, "Wait a minute..." It was obvious that he'd never thought of it that way before. He couldn't stop himself from glancing over at the girl beside him, who was mock-glaring at Two-Bit.

"Puts it in a whole new perspective, doesn't it?" smirked the older boy.

Steve shrugged, trying to cover up his shock and excitement at the new discovery. "I guess. I mean the idea's alright, but still... in reality it seems a little gross. Besides, if you say it's okay for chicks you have to say it's okay for guys too. And that's just..." he shuddered.

"Steve..." hissed Soda, worried that Alice would be offended. Didn't gays stick together or something? Surely she had some guy friends from Kansas City that swung that way.

She just rolled her eyes again. "Soda, this is so tame compared to what I'm used to. I can handle it."

There were a few seconds of silence before Two-Bit had to open his mouth again. "Hey... speaking of girls kissing being hot... Alice, do you think maybe –"

She cut him off before he could finish. "No, you may not watch." After a second's pause, the four of them burst out laughing. Two-Bit tried to look disappointed, Alice clapped hysterically at the expression on his face, and Soda and Steve collapsed on each other's shoulders, stomping the ground in mirth.

"Hey!" yelled a gravelly voice from a nearby window. "Do you kids have any idea what goddamned time it is?"

They couldn't help laughing again as they began to run. When they reached the end of the block, they finally stopped. The hilarity of the situation was increased by their exhilaration at being outside at two in the morning. And of course, get Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit together and you were lucky to get a single minute of serious conversation.

After ten more minutes of walking, they reached the corner of the street they were looking for. This was the part where they had to be careful, since they were definitely not in greaser territory, and had mischief on their minds.

"That's his house," said Soda quietly. The four of them had knelt down behind a stop sign as if it could hide them all, like in a cartoon when a character disappears behind a tree.

"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Alice whispered from beside him.

"Well," Soda began, turning to her, "Reason number one is that Will Thomas is a douche. Reason number two is that, specifically, he was a douche to you. And reason number three is that we were pretty damned bored."

Alice grinned. She liked reason number two – Will Thomas was one of the boys from her Calculus class, and a prominent member of the 'Beat Up Alice' club. "And why are you doing this?" she asked, turning to Steve. "I've never seen you talk to him, and don't tell me you're sticking up for me, 'cause I might go into cardiac arrest."

He laughed and anwered, part teasing but with underlying seriousness- "I'm just bitter. I hate Socs in general."

"And I was bored," added Two-Bit, not wanting to be the only one not to voice his opinion.

The answers satisfied Alice, who nodded. "Okay, then. We ready?"

The boys all nodded and pulled rolls of toilet paper out of their sweatshirt pockets. Soda, always the gentleman, handed one to Alice. The war was about to begin.

It was nearly an hour later when she shut her front door behind her, climbing tiredly up the stairs, feeling very satisfied. Steve was at least on speaking terms with her, she hadn't been caught, and best of all, the image of Will's house and yard covered in toilet paper (and an empty hair grease tin sitting on the front steps) was forever burned in her mind.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Please don't flame. I'd been planning this from the beginning. NO, the relationship will not continue, and in case I didn't make it clear enough, Cherry is NOT a lesbian. If you think this is OOC and would like an explanation of why I believe it isn't, PM. :) Enjoy!**

A few weeks after the midnight adventure, in the beginning of February, Alice bounced into Calculus class practically glowing. Her smile had remained on her face throughout the morning, including her good-natured argument with her mother about clothes again (she had even given in and agreed to wear a dress), and the taunts in the hallway. It never flickered once.

Cherry, so used to seeing Alice slink into class with her head down as if to shield her from the hateful words, was shocked to watch her fly into the room grinning. As soon as Mr. Wilson was absorbed in his lesson, she sent a note, something she hadn't done in weeks.

_Why so happy? _she wrote. _Are you high?_

In her good mood, Alice had to laugh out loud. She quickly turned the choking burst of laughter into a particularly noisy cough. Mr. Wilson glared at her even though the cover-up had been quite convincing, as if to blame her for coughing in his class.

_**No**, _she replied once she had herself under control and Mr. Wilson resumed his lecture. _**I talked to Laura last night. It's all arranged, she's coming for spring break!**_

_You know that's a month and a half away, right? _Cherry wrote, taking extra care to make sure no one saw her pass this one. Mr. Wilson was extra-attentive today and her parents wouldn't be pleased if she got landed with a detention, and besides, Alice had been right weeks ago. The two of them being friends wasn't a good idea for Cherry's image or her safety.

_**I know, **_Alice wrote, sighing happily as she penned the words. **_We didn't think she was going to get to come out until summer._**

Cherry smiled. It was clear her spirits wouldn't be brought down. _Congrats. I want to meet her, okay?_

The fact that she was on cloud nine made Alice mischievous enough to get sexual and too happy to care whether Cherry was uncomfortable. _**I don't know; I might not let her out of my bedroom the whole time she's here. **_But, as soon as she passed the note, she instantly regretted it. Out of the corner of her eye, she studied Cherry carefully, noting the blush that began as she read and grew steadily deeper as she wrote her reply. But she wasn't teasing, Alice could tell from the set of her jaw.

_What does it feel like?_ Cherry had written, hand shaking, before she could stop herself.

_**IT?!! **_

The blush only brightened. _Well... maybe we shouldn't talk about that here. What does kissing her feel like, then?_

_**Why do you want to know? **_Alice's mood had improved even more. Cherry was clearly curious, at least to some extent, and the fact that she was asking meant that she was comfortable with the brunette. Also, for the first time, instead of feeling like a circus freak being laughed at by the whole goddamned town, Alice enjoyed being asked. The older girl was being sincere, she could tell.

_I don't know. Didn't you wonder what it felt like before you'd tried it? Or what kissing a boy felt like before you'd done that ? _

_**I've never kissed a boy,**_Alice scrawled. _**And have no desire to. But fair enough. I guess it just probably feels like kissing a boy only better.**_

The redhead laughed. _And for those of us that are straight? _

Alice had to ponder that one. Describing what a kiss felt like was almost as hard as describing what an orgasm felt like. _**Well... softer? I guess if you're holding her, she's smaller than a boy would be. And more gentle. From what the girls I kissed told me, I was a better kisser than their boyfriends because I didn't shove my tongue in their mouth.**_

Part impressed, part amused, and part thrillingly scandalized, Cherry wrote, _You kissed girls with boyfriends? Multiple girls with boyfriends?_

Rolling her eyes, Alice gave a quick explanation of all the girls that had come to her for kissing advice or experimentation. She didn't regret it exactly, but it certainly wasn't something she took great pride in.

It was a few minutes before Cherry wrote back. Alice thought she was digesting the information. A few weeks ago she would have worried about being faced with disapproval, but somehow she didn't think Cherry would mind. That girl seemed to have a crazy like for sexual scandal. She was probably a closeted hippie. So, occupying her mind with these thoughts, Alice waited patiently.

_Wow, _the older girl finally replied. _Are you serious? _The note was handed back immediately, with no reply except a nod. She frowned and stared down, twirling her pencil around her slender fingers. Alice could practically see the wheels turning as she considered what to say. And she had a pretty good idea of what it was going to be.

Sure enough, the reply came: _And have you considered bringing some of that hippie culture to Tulsa?_

Alice grinned. She had been right. Cherry Valance, with her perfect body and red hair, Socy clothes, and occasionally snotty attitude, was as curious as Curious George. _**Well, I don't know. Do you think there would be an audience?**_

Cherry's heart was pounding. The truth was, the question had been burning inside her since the day she found out Alice was a lesbian. She wasn't attracted to her – and this time Cherry wasn't lying to herself. She liked Alice as a friend, a friend who just happened to be a girl who just might be able to answer the question. The redhead wasn't even questioning herself- she knew she was as straight as a yardstick. But she just wanted to know what it _felt_ like. And it seemed she would get to find out. _I know you have at least an audience of one._

Unable to suppress a smile at this, Alice looked over at her friend and grinned. Cherry's flippant sense of humor was quickly becoming a familiar comfort. She looked at the clock – class was almost over. _**My house, five o'clock tonight. You can stay for dinner if you want. **_

As Mr. Wilson wrapped up his lesson, Cherry nodded once to signal that the time worked. The bell rang, and Alice was out of the room before they could exchange a word. Bewildered, the older girl looked back at the paper and unfolded the bottom half in hope of an answer. But there was only one more thing written:

_**PS: I knew it.**_

_**PPS: If you don't want to get your ass whooped by Neanderthals in football jerseys, burn this.**_

At two minutes to five that night, Cherry pulled into Alice's driveway in her red corvette. She wasn't nervous like she would have been before a date, only excited. The only thing she was anxious about was getting caught. She found herself glancing out the windows before getting out, making sure nobody was around.

Alice answered her knock with a grin. "Hey," she said, looking more confident than Cherry had ever seen her.

"Hi," the Soc replied quietly. It seemed that all of her confidence had stayed behind in the car.

"Don't worry," Alice assured her. "I'm not going to rape you. It's just a little experimentation between friends. And I won't bite, either." Cherry looked up, waiting for the punch line. "Wait..." Alice added, not one to disappoint. "I might actually bite a little bit."

With a laugh, Cherry seemed a little more at ease. "Okay," she sighed, trying to breathe deeply. "I'm ready." The younger girl smiled, took her hand, and led her upstairs. "Umm... Alice? Is your mom..."

"She's at work," interrupted Alice. "We're not going to get caught. I'm very experienced at this, you know."

"Oh, right," Cherry replied.

Once in Alice's room, the older girl's heartbeat seemed to double-time. She glanced around – a large dog slept on the floor among scattered textbooks.

"Cherry, relax," Alice laughed. "It's no big deal. I swear I'm not getting any sort of sick pleasure out of this. I'm not going to look at you any differently afterwards, and I hope you won't look at me differently either."

"No," assured Cherry. "I won't." After a moment of silence, she added, "So how should we... I mean, do you want to sit down, or stand up or what?"

"Doesn't matter to me," said Alice with a shrug.

"Okay... we can stand up." The brunette nodded her agreement and took a step closer. Cherry took one last deep breath before she leaned in.

It was... interesting. Like Alice had said, it felt soft. Cherry followed her lead and embraced the other girl gently. She _did _feel small. And she was, as far as technique went, a very talented kisser. In some ways, it was more enjoyable than with Bob. Except that it was purely academic. It was what Cherry had expected, but she still felt some relief. A very, very small part of her had been worried that she would enjoy it... a little too much.

Alice was certainly enjoying herself... but rather more distantly than she would have expected. Sure, Cherry was one of the most gorgeous girls she'd ever seen, and her body was insane. She would have thought that having it pressed up against her would have excited her a little more though. And the older girl definitely knew how to use her tongue. The tiniest amount of heat gathered between her legs, which was to be expected considering how long it had been (to a hormone-filled teenager, anyway) since anyone had touched her. But Laura's kisses would have had her weak at the knees and begging by now. Cherry was pretty and an excellent kisser, but Alice was glad to find that there was absolutely no spark.

When the two girls parted for air, Alice waited to see Cherry's reaction. The older girl tilted her head to the side like a puzzled dog. "Huh," she said, looking thoughtful.

"You okay there?" Alice chuckled.

"Yeah," nodded Cherry breathlessly. Her hand found the back of her friend's neck and she brought their lips together again. If there was one thing she had learned in her high school career, it was that making out with anyone of decent kissing skill was inevitably fun. Today she found that she could attach a 'no matter the gender' to the end of the rule. It _was_ fun; she felt dirty, sexy, and sinful. She, Cherry Valance, was kissing a girl.

Alice had to grin for a moment when Cherry seemed so eager for more. Then she concentrated on the kiss with renewed vigor. She wasn't expecting, nor did she want, the experimenting to progress any further, but while she had the chance, she was determined to give the Soc a makeout session she'd never forget. The brunette had always prided herself on her self-proclaimed and widely agreed-upon talents in the lip-locking field.

Finally, Cherry pulled back again. Her eyes were wide and she was just a little flushed. Laughing a little, she sat down on the bed and crossed her legs Indian-style. Taking everything into account, she looked surprisingly businesslike.

"So?" prompted Alice. "What did you think?"

The older girl considered. "It was... well, you were right; it was soft. And you _are _a good kisser."

"Thank you," interrupted Alice, offering a small bow with a flourish.

"And," continued Cherry, "it was definitely fun. But... I can say with confidence that I'm straight. Even though you're a better kisser than Bob, I didn't get.... you know.... like I would when I was kissing him."

Alice nodded. "I feel the same way. I mean, don't get me wrong; you're great-looking with kissing skills to rival my own, but it's all friendly."

Grinning, Cherry asked, "So you aren't... um... 'hot' at all?"

The sophomore laughed uncomfortably. "Well, first let me say, no, I'm actually not. But I am curious to know... would it bother you if I was?"

About to open her mouth with an immediate "yes," Cherry stopped for a minute to reconsider. Since she had already said she wasn't interested in that way... what was wrong with taking a little physical enjoyment? Wasn't it exactly what Cherry did when she danced with strangers and ended up turned on? One thing was for sure: being friends with a lesbian sure made her think a lot more than she used to.

"Honestly..." she sighed. "Not really. If I already know you aren't interested in that way, and I mean you couldn't help it if you were. Which, by the way, I think you are." The flush in the younger girl's cheeks and how slowly she was breathing, being almost too careful, had not gone unnoticed.

"How observant," replied Alice. "I am," she added in admittance. "But only a little. Come on, you hungry?"

Leading a startled Cherry downstairs with a wink, Alice just laughed and asked if she liked peanut butter sandwiches.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... an update! Yeah. Yay for lesbians. Um... Valentine's Day goodness ahead. Not excessive, just... well. Decide for yourself. I honestly don't mean to write stuff like this all the time, it just comes out. Oh well, review anyways.

**i dont own the outsiders

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**

After that day, things seemed to look up for Alice. Not a lot, but enough. She passed notes with Cherry once in a while; she hung out with Soda or Two-Bit on a pretty regular basis; best of all, the novelty of her sexuality was beginning to wear off. There were still a few die-hard haters who harassed her daily, but for the most part, people moved on to other scandal. It wasn't the way it had been, of course – she was now avoided or snubbed everywhere she turned. But at least most of the other students didn't seek her out.

One night as Alice was sitting alone eating dinner and doing some reading for English class, her mother came in looking frazzled. Mrs. Morton set down her bag and slumped into a seat across the dinner table from her daughter, flipping through the mail as she went.

"Mom?" Alice asked after a few moments of silence. "Everything okay?"

She looked up. "Oh, sure, honey. Fine." It was total bullshit, and Alice could easily tell.

"Seriously. What's wrong?"

Turning back to her daughter, Mrs. Morton replied shortly, "I was at work today and some girls started muttering about my daughter being a dyke. Do you see what those jeans make people think?"

Alice went pale. Of course her mother had heard things like that before. Of course they'd talked about it, and Alice had assured her that they were just rumors. But how long would her mom be content to believe that? How long before she started seeing a pattern?

In Kansas City, where she had friends to go to, where she knew she would have a place to stay if she was kicked out, Alice would have argued that it had nothing to do with her jeans and everything to do with people being stupid. But, not wanting to cause unnecessary conflict or let her mother's mind dwell on the subject, she just picked at her food and said, "Okay. I'll wear them less, mom. Don't worry. Do you want some dinner?"

Mrs. Morton was shocked. In all of her memory, Alice had never replied so submissively. Maybe she had been hearing it too and was worried herself. Or maybe she was just growing up.

As Alice cleared her plate and brought her mother a full one, her mind was racing. What would happen if she did find out? What would she say? Where would Alice go – `cause she certainly wouldn't be allowed to stay in her mother's house. And in the bigger picture – what if it wasn't really all over like she had thought? What if it was just beginning? She didn't mind people messing with her; that was to be expected. She could handle it. Her mom, though, was a different story. Alice didn't want people harassing her mother like they did to her. Not only was it annoying, it was mentally straining often to breaking point, and potentially dangerous.

Luckily, though, there was a light at the end (actually, more like the middle) of her tunnel. As she turned to go upstairs, Mrs. Morton called out to stop her. "There's a letter, honey. From Kansas City."

It was Laura, she knew it was. Even before she saw the address, the handwriting, the note on the back ("PS: Open this alone!") that was _so_ Laura. Her heart started pounding immediately. Snatching the letter out of her mother's hands, she bolted upstairs to read it.

It was thick, and she wondered how many pages this one had taken up. Laura could talk for hours or write for chapters and chapters. But when she pulled it out of the envelope, it seemed to be just one sheet of paper, folded three times to fit into the envelope, and with something hidden between the folds. Even weirder, it was taped closed, like Laura _really_ didn't want it getting out. Curiosity peaking, Alice slid her finger under the tape and unfolded the paper. A shower of red and pink came out, causing her to jump in surprise.

Discarding the letter for a moment, Alice knelt to investigate. The red and pink shapes that had fallen to the floor were actually, she discovered, tiny hearts, individually cut from the looks of them, and hundreds and hundreds. It would have taken Laura hours, if not days, to make them all. Grinning wildly, Alice had to laugh out loud. It was so like Laura to do something like this; spontaneous and random and so sweet and thoughtful it made you want to squish her in a bear hug. But... why?

She got her answer as soon as she picked up the letter to read it. The top line said: _HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!_

Alice wanted to slap herself on the forehead. _Of course_. It was Valentine's Day. She had heard people talking about it at school, had seen the excessive amount of pink in the hallways, and had briefly discussed with Soda how he was planning on going on a date that night. She just hadn't made the connection. And it had never crossed her mind to send something to Laura. For a moment she felt awful. But then, that was the way it had always been. Laura was the romantic, the one who could express herself in words and remembered little details and did sweet, thoughtful things. Alice took care of her in bigger, more subtle ways – watching out for her in general, threatening bodily harm to anyone who messed with her, expressing her feelings best through… well, to put it nicely, intimacy. That was the whole dynamic of their relationship, and Laura never complained. Shaking her head to clear that thought, Alice sank down onto her bed to read the letter.

_HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!_

_Wish I could be there to give you a real present, but this will have to do. I took a leaf out of your book and started studying harder, so maybe mom and dad will let me call soon. I've got a calendar on my wall counting down to spring break. I can't wait!_

_I'm glad you're finally making friends. I'm excited to meet them all. That 8__th__ grader, Addison, still asks about you all the time. I guess `cause she's seen your brother around and like knows who you are or something. She's just coming into her hormone phase, and some of the questions she asks me… well, they're more your area of expertise than mine. And that's all I'll say on that subject. _

_So it's FREEZING here. I bet it's cold there, too. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night cold and roll over looking for you…and it sucks that you're not there. Sometimes I imagine you are, and you wake up and pull me closer and your arm sneaks around my waist and to my hip and suddenly we're touching from head to toe and your hands start to wander and they spread heat through me wherever they go… God. I can't believe I'm writing this. Please make sure nobody finds it. PLEASE. And by the way - if you 'enjoyed' reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it, sorry. I'll make it all better when I come for spring break, I promise. _

_Anyways. God. I don't know what got into me, but I'm not erasing it. I'm sure you'll get a kick out of it if nothing else. See what you've done to me? Before you, I would never have let thoughts like that find their way out of my head. Now here they are on paper. I hope at least you liked reading it… so, haha, Happy Valentine's. Love you._

_-Laura_

About halfway through the letter, Alice's mouth had dropped, and by the time she reached the end, it still hadn't closed. She was absolutely in shock at the way Laura's words made her feel. If having Cherry Valance right there, kissing her, in a _bedroom_ for Chrissake, hadn't turned her on, but a few mildly sexual words on a piece of paper from Kansas City left her burning, there was no hope. Feeling wicked, she immediately ripped a piece of paper out of the backpack sitting on her bed and began to write.

_**Oh, Laura. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into.**_

_**First off, yes, it's cold. Secondly, Addison probably looked in a yearbook and thinks I'm hot. If her questions make your prudish mind uncomfortable, you could drop her my address. But then, I might get picked up for child molestation or corruption or whatever they killed that Socrates guy for. Same basic principle. And… I did totally forget it was Valentine's Day, which I'm sure you knew would happen. But you certainly didn't. And I intend to make you pay for that. So, where were we?**_

_**Right. You were in bed, and you rolled over to find me there. And I pull you closer and let my hands wander. I slide them up your waist under your shirt and feel goosebumps rise up on your skin, and you shudder under me. You start to move in for a kiss, but I don't let you, I just roll you onto your back and slide on top of you. You groan as I straddle you and slip my hands up your shirt to slide it off. Finally I lean in to kiss you and your arms wrap around me…**_

_**What's next?**_

_**Like you said, don't let anyone find this. And like you said, I'm absolutely dying for spring break so I can see you and talk to you and hold you and touch you for real. I love you, babe. Be careful – you don't have me around to protect you. And happy Valentine's.**_

_**Love,**_

_**Alice**_

Breathing slightly more rapidly than normal, a little flushed, and mind still hung up on exactly what she would be doing if Laura was in her bed, Alice sealed the letter in an envelope. She addressed it with a shaking hand, attached a stamp, and then flipped it over to write "PS: Ditto" on the back. Without bothering to clean up the mess of paper hearts on the floor, she shoved her backpack and books off the bed and slid under the blankets, suddenly exhausted.

A few hours later she awoke to a crash from downstairs. It was a scenario she had experienced before, and she prayed that her guess was wrong as she leapt out of bed and ran to the source of the noise. But no, she was indeed correct. Lying just inside the busted dining room window was a brick with the word _DYKE_ scrawled on it.

Alice's first thought was: _How unoriginal can you get?_

Her second thought was: _Oh, fuck._


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey, this one wasn't so bad. Just over a month. I'm really excited to write the next one so it will probably be even less. Review, please!**

"I'm really sorry, Mrs. Morton, but there's nothing more we can do," sighed Officer Wells. "If anything else happens, be sure and let us know, but for now we're out of options."

"We understand, of course. Thank you very much, Officer," Mrs. Morton replied. At her mother's nudge, Alice thanked him quietly as well. The two of them walked silently out of the police station and to the car, Alice sighing with relief.

As soon as the police station had opened that next morning, after the brick was thrown through the window, Mrs. Morton insisted on driving down and reporting it. Alice was smart enough to know to wear her girliest (and in her opinion, ugliest) dress, and sweep her hair back nicely. She sat there looking demure and frightened while her mother explained the situation. The police, just as she had hoped, had taken one look at the pretty sixteen-year-old girl and sympathized immediately. Had she worn jeans, they would have concluded that she was in fact a dyke, as the brick said, and would have been cold and distant, if not actively discriminating. Since she was the picture of innocence, it put at bay both the officers' and her mother's suspicions.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, for Alice's own well-being), there was no possible way to find out who had thrown the brick. But it certainly meant that she would have to make some changes. On the way back home, she decided that her jeans had seen their last school day, at least for a while.

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_What's going on? You haven't worn a single pair of jeans in two weeks!_ Cherry teasingly wrote a few Fridays later. Mr. Wilson was going on about matrices, something he was particularly enthusiastic about, so it was highly unlikely that he would notice the note-passing.

_**Don't talk to me… not safe,**_Alice quickly scrawled and practically threw the piece of paper back. Not only did Cherry not seem to care what people would say if they knew the two were friends, she apparently didn't get that being caught would cause worse trouble for Alice as well. The less she was noticed the better.

_BS. We're sitting in the back,_ Cherry wrote as neatly and calmly as ever. It had been several weeks since they had spoken – despite Alice's determination to believe that she was a scandal-hungry hippie, Cherry was in fact being careful. _What's wrong?_

Rolling her eyes, Alice sighed. If she insisted… _**I got a brick thrown through my window a while back. It said 'dyke'.**_

_Shit… you know who did it? _As she often did with yes-or-no questions, the brunette passed the note back without writing anything, shaking her head as an answer. _Want me to find out?_ continued Cherry.

_**Nah, **_wrote Alice. _**It's not worth it. Thanks, though. I just want this week to be over…**_

With a knowing smile, Cherry sent the paper back quickly. _One more week 'til Laura, right?_

Alice's face broke into a smile. _**Yes! I can't wait. You doing anything fun over the break?**_

_Unfortunately not, _Cherry wrote. _My family is driving up to Chicago to visit my aunt. I'll be stuck in the backseat with my brother the whole way._

_**Ouch. **_Alice, since learning that Cherry had a brother, had eventually pinpointed which one of the many senior Neanderthals he was. She could just picture him crammed into a backseat, taking up all the room and shoving Cherry into a corner – he was huge. _**And you won't get to meet Laura!**_

_We're not staying long_, the redhead assured her. _We should get in Friday night, and I can meet her Saturday or Sunday before we go back to school._

Grinning hugely, all Alice could manage to write back was, _**I'm just so excited!!!!

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**_

By the next Wednesday night, Alice was too eager for Laura's arrival to concentrate on homework. According to the plan they had formulated in their most recent letters, Laura would go to school Friday, get up early Saturday morning to start the drive, and reach Tulsa by early afternoon. Just knowing that in an estimated sixty-four hours (of course that was just a rough guess) she would see her favorite person in the entire world made Alice crazy with anticipation.

Eventually she gave up trying to do her schoolwork altogether and started reading through all of Laura's letters, which she had saved in a shoebox under her bed. She was grinning and her foot was tapping excitedly on the bed when the phone rang and her mother called, "It's for you!"

Alice gasped and flung herself at the phone, scrambled for it, and said, "Hello?"

"Alice?" a low voice said from the other end.

Mentally cursing that it wasn't Laura and embarrassed at her enthusiasm, Alice cleared her throat and said, "Oh… um... who is this?"

"Ha!" the person exclaimed, now speaking in a much higher tone. "It's me, silly! Tricked you!"

"Bitch!" laughed Alice. "God, Laura. I seriously thought you were a guy."

"And the roles are reversed again," Laura quipped. "How are you, baby?"

"Dying with excitement!" the brunette replied.

"Me too," sighed Laura, and Alice's mind flooded with a picture of her. God, it had been so long. "Two more days," she added as if reading the younger girl's thoughts.

"How are you? I mean, in general," asked Alice, settling down onto her pillows. Knowing her and Laura, it could be hours before they hung up.

"I can't complain," she sighed. "I mean, it's second semester junior year and I'm drowning in work… but I'm so close to the end, I can feel it!"

"Yeah, just one more year for you," remembered Alice. "Are you excited?"

And so on. Once again Mrs. Morton had to yell at Alice to get off the phone several hours later, so the two girls said goodbye reluctantly and got ready to hang up.

"I'll see you in two days," Laura promised.

"Two more days," Alice agreed, and it was approximately the twentieth time those words had been spoken in the course of the conversation. "See you soon, babe."

"I love you," whispered the blonde into the receiver.

"Love you more!" Alice teased, as was getting to be their tradition.

"'Night," sighed Laura giddily. "See you soon."

"You already said that," the younger girl reminded her. "Sweet dreams, babe. 'Bye."

After hanging up, she fell into bed happily. Instead of counting sheep, she repeated "Two more days, two more days…" over and over like a mantra.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Alright guys. I head back to school tomorrow, so updates might go back to normal speed... glacial. I promise I will finish it though! Please review, I'm really needing some love right now.**

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It was nine o'clock when Alice woke up on Saturday morning, her mother already departed for work. If everything went as planned, Laura was supposed to arrive around one. That meant four hours (or more, depending on traffic) until she would see her girlfriend.

It would be the longest four hours she had ever spent.

By nine-thirty she had showered and was downstairs eating breakfast in the kitchen. By ten her bed was made, her teeth were brushed, and her room was cleaner than it had been since she moved in.

By 10:24 she had washed, dried, and put away her breakfast dishes, and fed Kenji, and couldn't think of a single thing to occupy her mind. She tried to work on a paper on the Crusades due two weeks after the end of break, but after seven minutes she was sick of it.

At a quarter to eleven she took a pack of cigarettes and Kenji on a leash and went for a walk around the neighborhood. She ran into Pony in the lot and had a smoke with him for a while, listening to him go on in his soft-spoken way about some book he had just read, _Nineteen Eighty-Four_ or something. After a while she got too antsy to sit down any longer; she apologized to Pony, who said he understood and watched her go sleepily. Weird kid.

Alice took one more lap around the neighborhood, then returned home, thinking to herself, _It's got to be at least twelve by now. _It was half past eleven. She wanted to scream.

After that, she did anything she could. She went through her bookshelf, and when nothing interested her, she went through her mother's room. There was nothing on the television, no good songs playing on the radio, and none of her records interested her. Finally she decided to clean some more, scrubbing down the kitchen and then her bathroom. When she was finished, it was 12:14. _One more hour_.

Kenji had picked up on her energy and was now restless too, so she took him out in the tiny backyard and tried to play fetch, before deciding it was just too small and returning to the lot. Pony was no longer there, but Steve and Soda were, so the four of them (Alice, Soda, Steve, and Kenji) played fetch until Steve checked his watch and said, "Quarter to one." Alice yelped and bade them a hasty goodbye, wanting to make sure she was home when Laura arrived.

At 12:56 the doorbell rang. Alice shrieked from the kitchen and leapt up, running and hollering all the way to the door, which she opened to find… Two-Bit.

"Keith Matthews, I am going to kill you," she yelled, half-laughing but desperately annoyed nonetheless.

"What, expecting somebody?" he smirked. Alice slapped him on the arm. Then she invited him in.

They each opened a coke, and Two-Bit helped himself to some Oreos after searching through the cabinets. Conversation lagged, until finally he launched into one of his ridiculously long stories, filled with lots of extra information that never seemed to be relevant to the punch line. Alice barely listened, keeping her ears tuned for the doorbell.

It came at 1:18 P.M.

Just as enthusiastic as the first time, she screamed in excitement, galloping for the door full-speed. She flung it open, and this time it really was _her_.

Before even taking time to look each other over, the girls threw themselves into each other's arms, not caring if they squeezed too hard and broke each other. A moment after starting the hug, Laura jumped and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl's waist, and they both laughed as Alice staggered backwards and shut the door before pinning her against it and kissing the shit out of her.

Clothes would have probably come off then and there if Two-Bit hadn't busted out laughing (he would later realize this and kick himself for ruining the chance to watch). Alice rolled her eyes and took Laura's hand.

"Laura, this is Keith Matthews. Keith, Laura. BYE, KEITH!"

"Two-Bit," corrected the greaser, sticking his hand out. "And are you sure I just can't stay and…"

"_Goodbye_!" the two girls chorused immediately.

As soon as he was gone, Laura raised one hand to cup Alice's cheek, whispered, "Oh my god," and kissed her again. Even after they separated to breathe they kept their foreheads touching, arms wrapped around each other. There was silence for a few minutes as they took each other in.

Alice, Laura noticed, looked tired. She didn't seem to have grown, but her hair was longer than Laura remembered her ever being able to stand. She had read in letters about the brick through the window and the consequential, self-imposed no-jeans rule, but Alice was wearing jeans now. Probably because it was a weekend, Laura thought.

The blonde girl, on the other hand, was taller than when Alice had left. Her green eyes still sparkled, especially in that particular moment. She was still slender and soft and so goddamned _girly_… which, Alice reminded herself, would be a good thing as they tried to avoid suspicion in the coming week.

"Where's your stuff," Alice whispered, finally breaking the silence.

"In the car," Laura replied, taking her hand. "Let's bring it in, okay?"

They went out to the car and fetched her luggage, and of course Alice insisted on carrying the suitcase into the house and up the stairs to her rom. "Unfortunately, there's no guest room," she teased, "so you'll just have to stay here with me."

"Oh, damn," giggled Laura.

"Guess you'll have to endure," Alice teased, stepping up close and wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck.

"Guess so," she breathed, leaning in.

The doorbell rang.

"Fuck," hissed Alice. "I wait for it to ring all morning, and now it won't stop…"

Soda and Pony were standing in the doorway when she opened it. "Is she here?" the older boy eagerly peered around Alice before catching a glimpse of Laura behind her.

"I'm Soda," he said, grinning widely, offering a hand.

Shyly, Laura came up and stood next to Alice. "I'm Laura," she replied, shaking his hand, "but I'm guessing you know that."

Alice smiled. "And this is Ponyboy. They're brothers. 'Bye, boys!" She started to shut the door.

"No way are you getting away that easy," laughed Soda. "We're going out."

"No," she said flatly. "No, no, leave, no!"

"C'mon," Pony spoke for the first time. "You don't think you're keeping her in the house all week, do you?"

Alice grinned. "Actually…" she wrapped an arm around Laura suggestively, leaning in until her breath ghosted on the blonde's neck and she squirmed and pulled away.

"Let's go, Alice," she laughed. "We've got plenty of time."

"But…" the younger girl pouted.

The boys grinned, and the girls hurried up to grab jackets and a few dollars. "I'll make it up to you, I promise," whispered Laura, pulling Alice into a tight embrace at the top of the stairs.

"You'd better," laughed Alice. She took Laura's hand and they raced down to where the boys were waiting.

They went out for lunch at a diner, and then got ice cream and walked around with it. Alice could tell that the guys really liked Laura, and her girlfriend seemed pretty comfortable around them too. Eventually they ran into Two-Bit, who waggled his eyebrows at the girls and suggested going to see a movie.

By then both of them just wanted to go home and spend time together, but all three of the boys begged and whined and carried on like a bunch of lunatics until they agreed to see one movie. One. That was all.

Finally it was over, and then all they had left to endure was dinner with Mrs. Morton back at home. She mostly just asked about Laura's family, and mutual friends from Kansas City.

As Alice washed the dishes and her mother sat at the table chatting with Laura, she looked up suddenly upon hearing Mrs. Morton say, "Why don't you girls take over the television tonight? We can all watch whatever you choose." She couldn't see the look on her daughter's face, but Laura could. She stifled a giggle.

"Actually, Mrs. Morton," she said, trying to keep a straight face, "I'm a little tired. I had to get up early for the drive. I think I'd like to do some catching up with Alice, if that's alright."

To illustrate how she intended to 'catch up,' Alice flashed a backwards peace sign at her girlfriend and stuck out her tongue between the 'v' made by her fingers. She grinned at Laura's blush.

At last they were upstairs. For a while they had just talked, but as the night wore on and they were sure Mrs. Morton was asleep, they climbed into bed.

"You have no idea how crazy you drove me with those letters," Alice whispered, touching Laura's shoulder lightly.

"Believe me, I know exactly," she replied. She leaned in for a kiss, and Alice eagerly responded.

"I missed you so much," the younger girl panted when they broke apart, before moving her lips down to Laura's neck.

"I missed you too," the blonde murmured, already getting lost in the feeling.

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Later that night, Alice woke up with a cry. For a moment her whole body felt warm and shaky, and then she realized it was just a dream, and fell back onto the pillows with relief.

"You okay?" Laura groaned, coming out of unconsciousness.

"Fine," whispered Alice. "I had a bad dream." She slid in under her girlfriend's arm.

"I'm worried about you," the older girl said suddenly.

Alice was already falling back asleep, comforted by Laura's embrace. "Don't worry," she murmured. "I won't let them get to us."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Jesus Christ! An update! I know, right? More soon, hopefully.**

**I don't own.**

"Morning, sleepyhead," Laura's voice greeted Alice as soon as her eyes opened.

"Hey, good-looking," smiled the younger girl, blinking in the light and sliding in closer. "What day is it?"

"Sunday," Laura replied before pressing a kiss to her temple.

"What time is it?"

"Nine? I don't know. I haven't heard your mother up."

"Good," Alice grinned. "I know what we're going to do today." Laura smiled back, green eyes sparkling, and kissed her.

They spent the rest of their week in a similar manner, enjoying themselves at home when Alice's mother was out, going to the movies or into town a few times, but mostly staying in the neighborhood, where one or more of Alice's new friends would come running if anything happened. Alice was more or less used to being harassed, especially since it had died down some, and didn't let it bother her. But if at all possible she wanted to keep Laura sheltered from it.

There was only a problem once, at a restaurant after going to the drive-in with Ponyboy. He had left to go to the bathroom when almost immediately two football players and their Soc girlfriends approached the table. The guys did their best to look tough and threatening, the girls snickered (while positioned strategically behind their big tough men), and then one of the jocks said, "Hey, Alice, who's this?"

Alice met Laura's eyes and rolled hers towards the ceiling slightly, a reassuring smile tugging at her lips.

"Come on," the other piped up, "You aren't going to introduce us to your girlfriend?"

"She's real pretty," the first took a step closer to the table. "You don't need to waste your time on this dyke, sweetie," he added, addressing Laura now. The blonde bit her lip, blinking rapidly as her eyes started to fill.

"Alright, guys, you can leave," Alice said calmly despite her tense muscles and the pain of her nails digging into her palm.

The last straw came when the bigger guy said something that made both of the Soc girls and Laura blush. Alice's vision went red for a moment in fury. Shaking, she jumped up from the booth and started to ask the guys if they wanted to take it outside. Luckily Pony chose that moment to return.

"What did you say about my girlfriend?" he snarled, sliding into the booth, assuming a protective body language towards Laura. The blonde instinctively reached for his hand and turned her concerned gaze from Alice to him. Tiny brains on overload and worried girlfriends in tow, the jocks turned to leave, glancing back and forth between the three greasers still sitting in the booth.

"You okay, baby?" Laura whispered, looking back at her girlfriend.

Alice didn't respond. She was staring after the Socs, eyes wide and face pale in anger. Whatever they wanted to say about her was fine, but no one had the right to bring Laura into this. It was a good thirty seconds before she sighed and nodded, dropping her head forward into her hands.

"Idiots," she snorted, not looking up.

Pony had shaken his head and smiled slightly, and that was all that was said about that matter until later that night, back at home.

"I wish you weren't so violent sometimes," Laura said out of nowhere, moving to a more comfortable position on the armchair she had claimed for the night.

Alice looked up. They had the room to themselves, Mrs. Morton having turned in early again. "What are you talking about?"

"Today at the restaurant," she clarified. "If you had tried to fight both of those guys, they would have killed you. Even one of them could have, probably."

Now unconcerned, Alice grinned. "Thanks for your faith in me, babe."

"I'm being serious," the older girl sighed. "You're crazy. You need to learn to control your temper."

"Laura, did you hear what he said about you?"

"It was true."

"_So? _The point isn't whether it was true or not, the point is that those guys are assholes and made a disgusting comment in front of a lady."

"I certainly don't think it's disgusting. Actually…"

"Stop," sighed Alice. "It's not disgusting for _us_, it's disgusting because he was making it into something dirty. I just don't want you to have to hear that."

The blonde laughed. "I'm a big girl," she replied, crossing to sit next to her girlfriend on the sofa. "I can take care of myself."

Suddenly quiet and serious, the younger girl said, "I just don't want you to worry. I shouldn't have brought you here."

"What?"

"I know you worry about me. I mean, when I write to you and tell you how people treat me out here. I want to protect you from it so you don't have to see it firsthand," she whispered. "I want you to think I'm okay out here.'

"Alice," Laura sighed. "Come here." She held out her arms and refused to continue until the younger girl crawled into them. "You don't have to hide this from me. I get that it's shit. But I want to help you. I can't do that if you're trying to shelter me."

Silence.

"And it's absolutely ridiculous for you to put yourself in physical danger because an idiot said something ignorant and true. So he made a comment about what we do when we're alone together. He's right. I don't care if these people know. I don't care what they say."

Silence.

"I did sort of like that you were all willing to jump into a brawl for me," she continued, more softly. "Of course, I never want you to actually fight for any reason. But it was nice that you were willing."

"I'm always willing."

"I loved it. I love when you're all protective. Taking control."

At this point the conversation had passed the point that Alice was comfortable with. Words weren't easy. Laura knew that. The older girl anticipated her next move, and didn't object. She knew she had gotten her point across.

"Oh, I know how to take control, baby," Alice smirked.

"Mmm, I know that," Laura laughed as her girlfriend's hand trailed up her side.

"I _love_ taking control," she nuzzled into the blonde's neck before sucking the skin under her lips.

"Mmmf," was all Laura could say.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: YES! *update dance* And I think I know what's going to happen in the rest of the story, too! (Which, by the way, is not much now...) Review, please please please. You can tell me it sucks. As long as I know you're reading. :)

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Saturday, the day before Laura planned to leave, Mrs. Morton left early for work as usual. Alice and Laura, after waking up hungry, decided to make pancakes. They had the ingredients all set out and had started to mix them together without incident, but of course Alice couldn't go too long without causing some trouble.

"Babe," she said, dipping her hand into the flour. When Laura turned her way, she flicked it towards her.

Brushing flour off of her skin, the blonde giggled. "Behave," she sighed, and pressed a kiss to Alice's cheek. "I'm hungry."

Alice pouted but returned to their breakfast. Granted, Laura was doing most of the work, but she helped a little. She did stir when they added the eggs and milk and stuff to the flour bowl. This time it was Laura that ambushed her, streaking a line of batter across her cheek.

"Hey," the younger girl laughed, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "Not fair, I'm the one that gets to cause trouble." To prove her point, she dipped her finger into the batter and painted a dot on Laura's nose.

"Why don't you clean up your mess?" the blonde smirked.

"Well, I did start it," she admitted, and leaned in to clean off the top of Laura's nose with her tongue. She did so thoroughly, and her girlfriend eagerly tilted her head to kiss her on the lips instead.

"Focus," she breathed after a few minutes. "Pancakes." They managed to get a few cooking and were waiting to flip them, so to fill up the time they kissed again.

"You taste good," Alice laughed.

"Alice, I'm really going to – " The doorbell rang. _Miss you_.

Blushing a little and slightly flour-dusted, the two girls hurried to the front door. A redheaded girl in a nice sweater was waiting there.

"Cherry!" Alice exclaimed. "I forgot we had said we were gonna get together today or tomorrow."

"I hope this is okay," the Soc nervously replied. "I've spent way too much time holed up with my family this week; I wanted to get out as soon as possible. I can come back later…"

"No, don't worry about it. Laur, this is Cherry Valance. Cherry, Laura."

"I've heard a lot about you," the blonde said warily. She remembered that Cherry had been the one to out Alice and cause all the trouble for her in the first place.

"Yeah…" Cherry wasn't stupid. She knew why the other girl was mad and she knew she'd have to work to earn her trust (or at least civility). "You know I don't feel the same way anymore… I regret telling everyone."

Laura nodded coolly.

"Okay," Alice grabbed her girlfriend's wrist. "Cherry, we're probably burning pancakes as we speak. You want any?"

"No thanks, I already ate. You sure you don't want me to come back…?" Laura glared, but Alice assured her that she was welcome.

A few minutes later they sat awkwardly at the kitchen table, two girls eating and Cherry just sitting there, looking around the room and avoiding Laura's eyes. Alice was distinctly aware of the tension between her friend and her girlfriend, but also uncomfortable at Cherry's studying of her house. Though she had been there before, she hadn't had much of a chance to look around. Now Alice couldn't help but imagine how different the Soc's house must look from hers.

Laura squeezed her hand and smiled, but her face returned to its stony expression when she glanced back at the redhead.

"So, Laura…" Cherry finally broke the silence. "Alice says you're a failure as a greaser for liking the Beatles." Laura's mouth twitched, and everything was a little easier after that.

A little while later, the three girls were on their way to the Curtis' house. "This is a bad idea," Alice kept saying, but Cherry seemed determined to get herself ridiculed for hanging around with greasers. Or maybe she was just determined to prove herself to Laura, who was being civil but decidedly not friendly.

"Hi, Ponyboy," the redhead said when he answered the door.

The greaser immediately reddened and smiled goofily, greeting her with a wave. "Hey, Cherry. Uh, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to meet Laura before she went home."

Both Ponyboy and Soda, who had come up to the door behind him, stared. Laura and Alice leaned around from behind Cherry and waved. The Soc continued. "Did you guys want to come… I don't know, hang out with us? We don't really have a plan." She glanced back at the two girls behind her.

"I know a place out of town," Soda offered. "We could grab some lunch, and you wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing you. But I'm only coming if we can ride in that sweet car of yours."

"Will you be riding in the trunk?" she quipped immediately. "There's two seats, smart one."

"Damn," he sighed wistfully. Then, over his shoulder, he yelled, "Darry, can we take the car?" Without waiting for an answer, he dragged Pony out the door and pulled the keys out of his pocket.

The younger boy made a beeline for the front seat, but Cherry got there a split second after him. Blushing, he opened the door for her and slid into the backseat with a sigh. Cherry winked at the two other girls, who stifled their giggles at Ponyboy's lovesick-puppy antics.

As they pulled out of the neighborhood, Soda glanced in his rearview mirror and asked, "Did you girls eat already?" When they replied that they had, he frowned. "I was thinking of grabbing some lunch, but I'm sure we can find something else to do. Pony?"

"Why don't we…" he stopped himself.

"What?" Soda prompted.

"Nothin'."

"Come on, Ponyboy. Spit it out."

"I was thinkin' we could visit those stables where… Mickey Mouse lived. I thought Laura might like that since she's leavin' tomorrow."

Soda's eyebrows pulled down for the briefest of moments, and then he grinned. "Good idea. I haven't been there in years."

Mickey Mouse, he explained to the girls, was a horse he used to want. He had worked at the stables when he was younger. The guy that owned all the horses loved him, so they could get in and spend a few hours there, no trouble.

"This is nice," Laura sighed, closing her eyes happily and feeling the sun on her face. "I don't want to go back." She was seated on the middle rung of the gate to the corral, her chin resting on the top rung. Cherry and Ponyboy were a little ways off, and Soda was, of course, in the pen, bothering the horses.

"Two more months til summer," Alice reminded her. "That's not long at all." She was standing on the bottom rung of the gate, an arm around Laura's shoulders.

"It sure will feel a lot longer."

"Yeah," the younger girl sighed. "I guess it will. I'm trying not to think about it."

"Sorry."

"S'okay." She gave Laura's shoulders a squeeze. "Sodapop, you're crazy!" she added suddenly, watching as he tried to mount one of the horses bareback in the middle of the ring. He did eventually get on, and the other four laughed when it threw him off again.

Neither Alice nor Laura slept that night. They lay in silence, pressed close together, each trying not to worry the other by saying how they really felt.

Finally Alice spoke. "Today was perfect, babe."

"Mmhmm."

"I'll come visit you this summer instead, though," she added. "I want to spend as little time out here as I have to."

Laura yawned. "Do you think you can just stay the whole three months?"

"Maybe. I hope so."

After a few minutes of silence, the older girl whispered "I love you."

"I love you," Alice replied. "So much." They stayed up the rest of the night, occasionally talking but mostly enjoying the feeling of lying together, hoping the night would last longer.

Mrs. Morton was home the next morning, so they said their real goodbyes in Alice's room. Laura cried, and Alice tried desperately not to, and they hugged for a long time.

"Call me," Alice choked out, blinking fast, when she knew that Laura really couldn't stay any longer. "As much as you can."

Laura nodded. "And I'll write. And… and I'll see you in two months."

"Two months," Alice repeated. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Then Alice carried Laura's suitcase down to her car, and they hugged goodbye again, more cheerfully this time for Mrs. Morton's sake. The blonde thanked Mrs. Morton for letting her stay, and mother and daughter waved as her car pulled away.

After the car was gone, Alice headed to the lot without a word. Her mother was the last person she needed around right now.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: This one's short, but I'm really excited to write the next one and tomorrow's my last final, so hopefully I'll be able to update soon. Review, please! 3 Love you all!**

**PS I don't own it. :)**

"It'll be okay," Ponyboy assured Alice half an hour later in the lot. "We're almost done with the year."

She nodded. "These two and a half months are going to seem like a hell of a long time."

"It's closer to two," he corrected lazily, puffing on his cigarette. "And with finals and everything, you'll keep busy."

"Yeah," Alice sighed. She looked up at the boy beside her. "I bet you can't wait for this year to be over either, huh?"

Taking a deep inhale from the cigarette, he moved his head up and down slowly. "I mean, I know it won't make no difference." She could tell he was upset by the way his grammar slipped. "But I still want to put as much possible distance between me and everything that's happened."

Reaching a hand out, Alice shook his shoulder gently. "It'll get easier. I promise." The two misfits grinned at each other, and Pony suddenly asked, "You ever watch sunsets?"

* * *

A couple of weeks later, the gang celebrated Two-Bit's nineteenth birthday. The Curtis house was full of boys and booze – apparently Darry was turning a blind eye. All of the usual gang members were there, plus a bunch of greaser girls from around the neighborhood Alice didn't know very well, and some guys she didn't know at all.

Even with all the beer and strangers (even strangers to the Curtises – Alice saw Darry giving some of them suspicious looks), things were mostly pretty tame until around eleven-thirty, when Two-Bit smugly escorted a giggling blond girl out of a bedroom that, in her few visits to the Curtis house, Alice had come to recognize as Pony and Soda's.

Ponyboy immediately jumped off of the couch, where he had been talking to one of the girls close to his age and smoking a cigarette. "Two-Bit, please tell me you didn't just come out of my room."

The blonde burst into fresh giggles.

"Come on," Pony begged, "Did you at least have the courtesy to use the floor?"

"With a girl like this?" Two-Bit looked shocked. "Come on, Pony." He thumped the younger boy gently upside the head.

"Soda's bed?" Ponyboy threw out desperately.

"Sorry, kid," the older greaser just shook his head.

"Tim!" Pony shouted, turning over his shoulder to look at a black-haired boy by the refrigerator. "Toss me a beer." At a nudge from the girl next to him, he added, "Two!"

Alice made her way over, careful to sit by Ponyboy instead of his anonymous girl friend. "Little stressed there, kid?"

"In my _bed_," was all he could manage as he popped the top off of the bottle.

Laughing a little, Alice stuck her hand out to the girl. "I'm Alice."

"Brenda," Ponyboy's friend introduced herself, loudly over the noise: a game of cards on the other side of the room was rapidly heading towards violence. "You live close?"

"Across the street," Alice nodded. "I haven't seen you before, do you?"

She shook her head. "I just moved in with my aunt a few doors down. Pony's been really great, helping me get to know the neighborhood." Ponyboy and the new girl smiled goofily at each other.

Alice noticed that Brenda had red hair, and was almost as pretty as Cherry.

"Yeah, he's a great kid," she agreed, deciding to help him out with this more attainable redhead. "Brave and stuff. He protected me from some jackass guys one time. You know Buck Merril's place?"

And she launched into a mostly fictional story.

When Brenda went to use the bathroom, Pony turned, half-amused and half-angry, to Alice. "What was that? Makin' up stories about me!"

"It was partly true," Alice laughed. "That time we went to Buck's and you danced with me? Technically you were protecting me, in advance. Just because there was no actual _violence_ involved…"

"Yeah, but I don't wanna lie to her… Brenda seems like a real nice girl."

"Pretty, too," Alice added. "I was just trying to help you out, but from the eyes she was makin' at you, it doesn't look like you needed much."

"Really?"

If the way the two kids were making out within the hour was any indication, then yes, really.

Alice, a little drunk, looked on fondly for a little while, proud of her handiwork, until she realized that watching them was probably a little creepy, and decided to go find something else to do. She chatted with Two-Bit for a while, which was extremely entertaining, because his stage of drunkenness was far past "a little". Then he started to snore mid-sentence, which was less fun.

As soon as Alice started to get up and find something else to do, she heard loud laughter behind her and turned just in time to watch a guy she didn't know pour a bottle of beer over Two-Bit's nodding head. He sat up immediately, sputtering, wiping beer out of his eyes.

After that, things got even crazier. Two-Bit, once he realized what was going on, just grinned and headed for the bathroom, graciously offering to share his shower with his blonde of the night. In his absence, more beer was dumped out of bottles, the few remaining pieces of cake managed to get smeared all over the walls, and according to the cops that came knocking on the door, a neighbor complained about the noise. Darry managed to keep the noise down to a low roar for a while after they left, and, in the relative quiet, the phone rang.

"Darrel," he answered.

"Hey, who is it, Dar?" slurred Tim, the black-haired boy who had thrown Pony his beer.

Darry waved a hand at Tim to shut him up. "Uh, yeah, she's right here. Alice," he turned to her, confused. "It's for you."

"Okay," she said hesitantly, standing from the couch to go answer it. _Probably Mom freaking about the cops coming out here._ "Hello?"

"Alice?" the voice on the other end of the line was crying. "It's me. Laura."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Okay, folks, here's another one. I think we're going to have one more chapter after this and then an epilogue. Please review!**

"_Alice?" the voice on the other end of the line was crying. "It's me. Laura."_

"L-Laura?" Alice repeated hesitantly. "How did you –?"

"Your mom. I called your house and I t-told her it was important," she seemed be trying to speak evenly, but her voice was shaking. "She said you were here."

Darry was losing control over the noise again. "What's wrong?" Alice nearly shouted into the phone and struggled to hear the reply.

"My- my parents," Laura began. "They found out, they know…" She said something else after that, but Alice couldn't hear it through her sobs. There was background noise on both sides, and it wasn't the familiar sounds Alice had come to know from Laura's house.

"Baby, where are you?"

"I'm at- at a pay phone," she gasped out. She was losing control of herself, Alice could tell. "In Butler. I'm three hours away."

"You're coming here?" No answer. "Okay, Laura, listen. I'm gonna be home by then. I'll watch for you, but if I fall asleep, throw something at my window. Don't knock on the door, okay?"

"Okay," she exhaled shakily. "I'm s-sorry, I just don't know where to go, and –"

"Hey, shh," Alice sighed. "Calm down, babe. It's fine. I'm here; I'm here waiting for you. I love you."

Softly, Laura replied, "I love you too."

"It's late," she added. "Get some coffee or something, and don't drive until you've calmed down. Okay? Be careful."

"Okay. Thanks. See you soon." She had hung up before Alice could reply.

"Shit," the younger girl hissed, slamming the phone down.

"Hey, that's mine!" Soda teased, coming up to her. "You're gonna break… what is it?" His tone immediately changed when he saw her face.

"It's Laura. Her parents… they know. I don't know how. She's on her way."

"Well, shit," Soda repeated.

* * *

Alice didn't think she would be able to sleep, but a little over three hours later she awoke to the sound of rocks hitting her window. For a moment she forgot about everything that had happened and her first thought was, _Dammit, Soda! Can't a girl sleep?_ And then she remembered.

She shrugged on a jacket and was down the stairs and out of the house in probably under ten seconds flat. Laura was still standing under the window, and she looked a mess.

"Hi, sweetie," Alice immediately rushed over to her. "You okay?"

Laura shrugged. "I didn't crash the car, so that's good."

"Do you… do you wanna call your parents? Let them know you're okay?"

"They won't care," she sniffed. "They watched me leave."

"Oh," Alice sighed. "Come on, let's get out of my front yard." Laura nodded and silently headed for the car. Alice gave her directions to the big field behind the drive-in way out on the city limits.

"Sorry," she apologized when they finally got there. "It's far away, and it's kind of the makeout spot, but I didn't think people would be here this late." Laura just nodded again in response. There was only one other car on the far side of the field, and judging by the way it was rocking back and forth, the owners probably wouldn't be bothering them.

"I got you these on the way out of town," the blonde said suddenly, picking a brown paper sack off the backseat. "I'm sure they're cold, but…"

Peering into the bag, Alice grinned a little when she saw French fries inside. "Winsteads," She laughed despite the tension. "You're the best. Thanks." The fries _were_ cold, and her stomach felt like a bunch of squirrels on a caffeine rush were jumping around in it, but she ate a few anyway. Hopefully it would make Laura feel better, and the taste of Winstead's fries – even if they were four hours old – reminded her of home.

"So… what happened?" Alice finally asked. They had crawled into the backseat and Laura was lying sideways with her head in the brunette's lap. "Or if you just want to sleep…"

"No, it's okay," the older girl murmured. "It was that eighth grader. Allison, remember I told you about her?" Alice nodded. "She… God, she went crazy. Saw something in a paper I guess, about these… I don't know, gay riots in New York or something. She wanted to go all civil rights movement. Decided to tell her parents."

"Jesus," sighed Alice.

"She also decided to tell her parents about me. How I'd been helping her, you know, figure stuff out. Just being someone to talk to. Of course, how does that look? Completely perverted. So her mom marched up to my front door and started yelling at my parents about how totally revolted she was and if word got out about her daughter there would be hell to pay."

"They didn't know what she was talking about," Alice guessed.

"Yeah, until she set them straight."

The younger girl sighed again. "I'm sorry." She slipped her hand out of Laura's to wipe the tears off of her girlfriend's face. "It's gonna be okay."

"They'll know," she choked out, shaking her head. "They'll guess about you and then they'll call your mom."

"So we'll leave." Alice pulled her up so she was sitting. "I'll go anywhere with you. I'll protect you."

"I'm so scared." She was shaking violently, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I know. I am too."

"Alice," Laura cried, taking her hand.

Threading her fingers through her girlfriend's blonde hair, Alice whispered, "I'll take care of you. I promise."

An instant later Laura was straddling her lap, kissing her with bruising force.

"Laura," Alice panted when her lips were freed again. The older girl was tugging at her shirt. "Baby, wait."

"Please," the blonde gasped, eyes red and shining with tears. "Alice, please, I just need…"

"Okay," Alice sighed, and kissed her again.

* * *

By the time she was aware of anything other than the warm, slender body against her own, they were lying across the backseat. Alice was draped on top of Laura and the older girl's hands were moving gently through her hair.

Alice came back to the real world with a heavy sigh. "Are you okay?" she murmured, turning her head to lightly kiss her girlfriend's forehead. _Stupid question, Alice,_ she mentally berated herself.

"Better," Laura replied a little hoarsely. "Calm, at least. For now."

"Not to ruin the moment, but we need to figure out what we're going to do." She sat up slowly, looking around in the darkness for her shirt.

"Here," Laura was suddenly sitting up too, holding up the wrinkled garment. "What _are_ we going to do?"

As soon as she had pulled the shirt over her head, the brunette leaned back against the seat and drew her knees up against her chest. "Ask mom if you can stay? Which, if your parents call, will be less likely. But there's a chance she'll, you know, always love me no matter what, or whatever that line is." They exchanged a doubtful glance. "But, we should pack and find some money first, just in case."

"You mean we'll go for good?"

"What choice do we have?" Noticing that Laura was tearing up again, Alice took her hand. "Hey, we'll be okay. I know where my mom keeps some money. We can head out west, find some jobs, take Kenji with us. Like we always said we would, just a couple years early is all."

"Why west?" The blonde sniffled as she finished buttoning her dress.

Alice smiled a little despite herself. "Have you heard of the Castro?"

* * *

It was light out when the girls returned to Alice's house, hoping for the best. Alice took Laura's hand on their way in the door, trying to reassure her, but the sight that awaited them in the kitchen was less than reassuring. Mrs. Morton was dressed for work, seated at the table clutching a mug of coffee. She was pale and her mouth was set, and her features hardened even more at the sight of her daughter.

"Hey, Mom," Alice whispered cautiously. She didn't drop Laura's hand as she went to sit across from her mother at the table, sensing a long talk coming.

"Laura, your parents called this morning," Mrs. Morton said calmly.

The blonde nodded, finding herself unable to speak.

Turning her gaze to Alice, her mother waited for an explanation, hands tightening on her mug.

Alice, like her girlfriend, had trouble forming words.

"Is it true?" Mrs. Morton finally whispered.

"Yeah."

With a slow nod, she began to stand, then quickly sat down again. "I have to go to work." But she didn't move.

"Mom…"

Trembling, she shook her head. "How did this happen? What did I do wrong?"

Somehow Alice didn't think her mother wanted to hear about how she had always been this way, how it wasn't her mother's fault, how there was no one to blame so please could she still love her? She stayed silent.

"Well, there are… places you can go, there are ways this can be fixed. Laura, I can call your parents and we can work something out…"

"Mom, I don't want to be fixed," Alice's voice broke. "Don't you…" she fell silent again at the lost look on her mother's face.

"Then," Mrs. Morton sighed, "If that's your choice, I think" – there were tears in her eyes – "I think you should leave."

Under the table, the two girls' hands squeezed tightly together, nails digging into each other's flesh, making them grip even tighter.

Alice took a deep breath.

"I'm leaving for work. Do you need anything before…" she couldn't say it, despite all of Alice's wishing that she would. _Before you leave. This is the last time I'll see you. I love you._

Shaking her head, Alice stood from the table. "We're okay." She glanced at Laura, still seated. "I'll be gone. I love you."

She really didn't think her mom would say it. She thought Mrs. Morton would walk out of the house, get in the car and head off for a day of work, where she would pretend that her life hadn't fallen apart, all without telling her daughter she loved her. She made it as far as the front door, walking out as Alice watched from the hall. Even then she didn't turn around (_She can't stand to look at me,_ Alice thought), but she softly said it before shutting the door behind her.

"I love you, sweetie."

**FINAL A/N: On the French fries that Laura brings Alice. The restaurant, Winstead's, is a real place in Kansas City that's been there since 1940, and it's been a hangout for teenagers pretty much since then up until today. So, there's some cool Kansas City trivia for you.**


	20. Chapter 20

Monday morning, Cherry walked into Calculus class exhausted and dreading the week.

She walked out of it wondering where the hell Alice was.

By Wednesday, Mr. Wilson no longer called Alice's name with the roll.

By Friday, she was still wondering.

The next Monday, she raised her hand in class. "Um, Mr. Wilson? I was wondering what ever happened –" she hated herself for it, but she couldn't reveal their friendship, especially with more rumors flying about Alice than ever – "to that freak Alice Morton."

Giggles flew around the room. With all the speculation, no one had dared ask a teacher, either because they didn't want to seem that interested in the girl, or because they preferred to circulate wildly hurtful lies and speculations instead.

"She is no longer a student here," was all Mr. Wilson would say.

"Oh, hey, Mrs. Morton," Darry said politely in line at the grocery store. He had seen Alice's mom around the neighborhood, but hadn't had much occasion to talk to her until now. At her confused look, he added, "I'm Darrel Curtis. My brothers are good friends with Alice, we're neighbors."

Her face tightened at the mention of her daughter, but she tried to be nice. "Oh. I'm sorry; with my work schedule I haven't been able to meet many of our – my – new neighbors. Though I guess it's not even really new anymore."

Darry laughed good-naturedly. "I get it. It's hard to keep up with my brothers as much as I work these days. They did speak very highly of Alice, though," he added, pressing for information for his brothers' sake, "and they mentioned they hadn't seen her around lately."

"Alice and I had a disagreement," Mrs. Morton replied tersely. "We couldn't work it out, and we agreed it would be better for both of us if she left."

Darry tried to think of an appropriate response, but he was floored, so he just turned around and paid for his groceries.

"She was something, Johnny," Ponyboy whispered up to the sky, puffing on a cigarette. "I mean, brave like you. Everyone was against her and she sorta acted like she wanted to prove them wrong. She was a tuff girl."

He sat silently for a few minutes, looking at the stars through the leaves of the tree. Eventually he moved from his position leaning up against the tree, to lay flat on the ground. The view was better that way.

"No one's seen her for almost two weeks. I heard her mom kicked her out. I don't know how she's going to eat and stuff. If Soda had to take care of us by himself, without Darry, when Mom and Dad died, I don't think he could have done it. Seventeen's real young."

"I miss her," he admitted a few moments later. "She was mean at first, but maybe she's learned to be. Like Dally. I liked that you didn't ever learn that, but I can't do it either so I sorta admire people who can."

"Hey, Ponyboy," a girl's voice called out quietly.

He sat up partly, placing his elbows underneath him. "Hey, Brenda." His heart thumped a little.

"Can I join you?"

"Hey, hot stuff," someone whispered in Two-Bit's ear as he took a long draught of his beer at Buck's place. He nearly spilt it down his front when he saw the tits on the girl the voice belonged to.

"Uh, hey yourself," he grinned back, waggling his eyebrows.

"I'm Karen." She sat down next to him and stole a sip of his beer without asking. "I've seen you around here a lot."

"Yeah, I'm Two-Bit. Keith," he rolled his guys. Lots of girls had a thing about using 'real names' or whatever. "I'm here a lot."

"I never see you alone," she admitted, biting her lip and causing Two-Bit to stifle a groan. "You're always with different girls. Usually that cute brunette."

"Huh?" He laughed. "Nah, it ain't like that with her at all. Besides, she skipped town anyways. Now you, on the other hand…" he openly looked her up and down. "You, I'd like to get to know."

"You heard from her?" Steve asked one slow afternoon in the garage as he and Soda were trying to entertain themselves.

"Huh?"

"Alice. Have you heard anything from her?"

"Wouldn't I tell you?" Soda rolled his eyes but otherwise didn't move from where he was laying face-up on the counter.

"She doesn't like me," Steve shrugged. "You don't seem to like me when she's around either. Maybe you wouldn't."

"Come on, Steve," he flipped over. "You know that ain't true. I just worried about her, is all. You know my buds come first."

Steve was silent, seeming to accept what he said. Then he added a few moments later, "So have you heard from her?"

"Nope." Soda shook his head and rolled back onto his back, looking up at the ceiling again. "Wherever she is, she doesn't want anyone to find her, I guess."

"Have you heard from them at all?" Mrs. Morton sighed anxiously into the phone. She had returned home from work the day Alice left to find the house eerily silent. It was only four days before she began to secretly hope her daughter would return.

Yes, she was disgusted and confused at her daughter's revelation, and she could never even pretend to understand. But she had been a mother for almost seventeen years, and it was strange to not be one. She suddenly cooked smaller portions at dinner, and she didn't have to yell up the stairs in the morning to ensure that her daughter would get to school on time. She even missed having to tell Alice that she couldn't wear jeans.

Since her realization that she would rather have a degenerate for a daughter than no daughter at all, she'd been fruitlessly searching. She'd gone to the Tulsa police department, but they didn't do much. Besides, it was unlikely that Alice would have stayed in the area anyway. She'd called Laura's parents frequently, hoping their daughter would have called to let them know she was safe, but they never heard anything.

Mrs. Morton was not a religious woman, but the week after she learned that her daughter was an abomination, she began to pray that she would come home safe.

"Soda! Darry!" Ponyboy whooped, sprinting into the house from the mailbox. "We got a postcard, it's from her!"

Soda met him at the door. "Is she okay? Does she need anything? Where the hell is she?"

With a wide grin, Pony held up the card, allowing his brother to see the picture of the Golden Gate Bridge on the front.

Darry whistled as he came into the room and saw the picture. "San Francisco," he nodded. "She'll do fine there."

"Well, read it, come on, Pony!" Soda urged.

Ponyboy frowned. "Well, there's nothing to read exactly. Just a bunch of little drawings."

Sure enough, crammed into the tiny space of the postcard were several small sketches. There was one that was clearly a horse from the farm Soda had taken them to, and a caricature of Ponyboy with a huge cigarette in the lot. There was one of two girls and a dog on a bridge – probably the same one that decorated the front of the postcard. There was a street sign that read "Castro" in all capital letters. Close to the bottom, there was a mailbox with the letters "PO" on the side, and an arrow pointing towards it with the word "soon".

Darry smiled. "We'll be hearing from her again."

He was right, as usual. Two weeks later, they got a real letter, addressed from San Francisco PO box.

_**Hey, boys!**_

_**Laura and I are doing just fine here in San Fran. Kenji's adjusting well to city life, and we both have jobs in the city. You wouldn't believe the queers running around here. I guess in World War II, they kicked out a bunch of gay guys from the army and sent them here, so this neighborhood the Castro developed. Everyone we meet loves Kenji, and we have yet to meet a person in this neighborhood that's as much of a jerk as anyone in Tulsa.**_

_**We got a PO box, so you can send us mail if you want. We have an apartment too, but we figured just in case our parents had a change of heart we shouldn't use the address. As much as we like it here, we miss you guys. Laura says hi to all of you, and says to go see the horses for her. Write us soon.**_

_**Alice**_


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Well this is it, guys. Three years later. I think I've grown a lot as a writer since I started this (at least, I hope I've grown a lot as a writer since I started this). Thanks for sticking with me. Go love somebody. Love the gays. We need it.**

* * *

Anne Harris was used to being exhausted, and today was like any other day. It was a slow morning at the cafe, still too early for the breakfast crowd, and just a few quiet customers nursed mugs of coffee at the bar. Anne was letting her young coworker handle things for now - he was fitter than her, and young people had too much energy anyway - as she leaned against the counter, nearly dozing.

The bell tinkled at the front of the cafe, signaling that someone had come in. Anne didn't open her eyes until her coworker pressed, "That's your section."

_Damn, _she thought. _They had to sit in one of her booths._ Lifting her head and attempting to shake the tiredness out of her old bones, she picked up a couple of menus and ventured out from behind the counter, for the first time since arriving at work that morning.

"Hi, hon, what can I get you?" she said to the young girl in the booth. She was young, pretty, with blonde hair and tired green eyes.

"I'm waiting for someone," the girl ventured sweetly, as if afraid she was somehow breaking a rule. "Is that okay?"

"Sure thing," Anne nodded. "Not like we're short of booths. Want anything while you wait?"

"Could I get some coffee, please?"

"I'll bring a pot," the waitress nodded again, setting down the menus. "Take your time."

Though most of her wanted to get back to her catnap against the counter, she was curious about this girl. Lots of people came in, and Anne had learned to recognize the look of someone who had been up all night. This girl was one of them, maybe traveling. But she was young, too, from the looks of her. Anne hoped for her sake she was waiting on a parent, but she knew that most likely wasn't the case. They got runaways in now and then, stopping by on their way _away_ - mostly they didn't have any idea where they were going, just what they were leaving.

As she thought over this, quietly getting the pot of coffee and taking it to the girl's table, she found herself staring out the window. Each clean-cut adult that passed, she silently hoped they would come in and sit with the girl; each greasy-looking boy, she willed away with a fervent hope for the girl's well-being. She was a mother, not that she saw her own grown children much anymore, but these runaway-types always tugged at her in a way.

Staring out the window, ignoring her coworker as he moved about in the same small space, Anne suddenly noticed what looked like a wild animal, traipsing through the city. It took a minute for her to realize it was just a dog - admittedly a very large, wolf-like dog. She watched as its owner led it - or, more accurately, was dragged - to a beat-up car and opened the door to let it in the backseat. The owner then opened the window slightly and shut the door, leaving the dog inside. He then locked the car and started towards the diner. Anne realized with a sinking heart that this dirty-looking, long-haired boy could be the girl's companion.

Then she realized, with a start, that this dirty-looking, long-haired boy was a girl.

Tugging her leather jacket tighter around her, she entered the diner and went straight for the other girl's table. The blonde's eyes darted towards the car, and she appeared concerned, but the other brushed it off.

_The dog?_ Anne wondered. _Poor kids, they look exhausted. Well, it wouldn't hurt anyone..._

"Noticed your dog," she mentioned casually as she approached their table. "If you like, you can bring him in and I can find him some water, scraps maybe."

"Isn't that against the rules?" the blonde worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

Anne shrugged. "Well, we're not busy."

The brunette grinned slightly. "'Kay. Be right back," she assured the other.

The girl returned with the dog at the same time that Anne returned with a bowl of water. "Wow, big boy," the waitress smiled. "Here you go," she cooed to the dog as she set the water down on the floor.

"Alright, girls, I'm Anne. What can I get you?"

The girls ordered, Anne observing their behavior the whole time. Working as a waitress for years, that was the way she kept herself entertained. The brunette's posture was masculine, protective. She rarely took her eyes off of the girl across from her. The blonde, on the other hand, kept her eyes down. In the brunette's presence, she seemed different than she had before the other girl had entered the cafe - her eyes looked somehow tireder, as if she felt safe enough to relax now.

Anne had watched a lot of people come through over the years, and these two obviously had a strong relationship between them. She wasn't one to judge, but her heart ached for these girls. There was a lot of hate in the world.

She hurried to get their order ready; they must have been hungry if they'd driven all night, as she suspected. When she brought the food, the dog perked up, pressing against her legs and straining up towards the smell of bacon.

"Sorry," the brunette winced. "Down, Kenji."

"No problem," Anne assured her. "He's being an angel. I'll get him his own bacon, don't worry."

"Um, could you get us some more coffee, please?"

Anne stared down at the empty pot.

"I'm still on my first cup," the blonde protested, "don't look at me."

The waitress laughed, smiled at the other girl, and took the pot.

"Up late?" she inquired casually as she set down the pot of coffee for the girls and the bacon for the dog.

"We're traveling," the brunette rolled her eyes and poured herself another mug, full to the brim.

"Alice," the blonde reprimanded quietly. "We're moving," she offered.

"Yeah? Where to?" Anne was being pushy, she knew, but the girls didn't seem annoyed, and she just wanted to know if there was any way she could help them.

"Castro," the brunette - Alice - gasped out after swallowing a large gulp of hot coffee.

"Hey, that's not far now," Anne smiled. "Just about another two hours. You'll make it in no time."

"Yep," Alice grasped the blonde's hand over the table. "We'll make it."


End file.
